Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Ben-Tzion Spitz (born 1969) was the Chief Rabbi of Uruguay. He was born in

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, United States. In May 2013 he was appointed as

Chief Rabbi Chief Rabbi () is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir ...

of Uruguay, a position he held until October 2016.

Early life and education

Ben-Tzion was born in

, U.S. in 1969, the son of Elliot and Nira Spitz. His father is an international commodities trader and his mother is an artist. The family moved for the father's business assignments. Ben-Tzion spent formative years of his childhood in

Caracas Caracas ( , ), officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas (or Greater Caracas). Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern p ...

, Venezuela and in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, Brazil where he learned to speak

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

and Portuguese. Spitz attended

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a Private university, private Modern Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.

High School in Manhattan from 1983 to 1986. Spitz learned at

Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh (, lit. ''Vineyard in Yavne Yeshiva'') is a youth village and major yeshiva in southern Israel. Located near the city of Ashdod and adjacent to Kvutzat Yavne, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Yavne Regional Council ...

from 1986 to 1988 and after moving to Israel in 1997 was an ongoing student and lecturer at

Yeshivat Har Etzion Yeshivat Har Etzion (YHE; ), commonly known in English as "Gush" and in Hebrew as "Yeshivat HaGush", is a Hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is considered one of the leading institutions of advanced T ...

from 1997 until 2013. He studied with Yeshivat Pirchei Shoshanim since 2007 and received his rabbinic ordination from them in 2010. Spitz obtained a BA from

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a Private university, private Modern Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City.

in 1990 and a MS from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

in Mechanical Engineering in 1992. He is also a Certified Energy Manager receiving his certification from the

Association of Energy Engineers The Association of Energy Engineers (AEE) is a non-profit professional society founded in 1977 by Albert Thumann. The organization promotes scientific and education interests in the energy industry through its networking and outreach efforts and ed ...

in 2012.

Career

After graduate school, Spitz worked as a

Nuclear Engineer Nuclear engineering is the engineering discipline concerned with designing and applying systems that utilize the energy released by nuclear processes. The most prominent application of nuclear engineering is the generation of electricity. Worldwide ...

for

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

. Thereafter he held a number of business and technical positions for companies in the United States and in Israel, including serving as CEO of technology start-up Nanolayers and Managing Director of energy technology consultancy Hillpoint Energy.

Writings

Spitz has written much Biblical Fiction, weaving new stories based on the ancient text, but strongly inspired and in line with the Jewish Orthodox tradition. He has posted an entire series of short stories based on the weekly reading of the

Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...

. He has also posted a fictional series based on the biblical stories of

Joshua Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...

Ehud Ehud ben‑Gera (; , Tiberian ''ʾĒhūḏ ben‑Gērāʾ'') is described in the biblical Book of Judges chapter 3 as a judge who was sent by God to deliver the Israelites from Moabite domination. He is described as being left-handed and a me ...

and

Ruth Ruth (or its variants) may refer to: Places France * Château de Ruthie, castle in the commune of Aussurucq in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France Switzerland * Ruth, a hamlet in Cologny United States * Ruth, Alabama * Ruth, Ark ...

. Valiant Publishing has published two collections of his short stories, Destiny's Call: Book One - Genesis, and Destiny's Call: Book Two - Exodus.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spitz, Ben-Tzion 1969 births Living people Columbia School of Engineering and Applied Science alumni Yeshiva University alumni Modern Orthodox rabbis Sportspeople from Queens, New York Chief rabbis of Uruguay American expatriates in Uruguay Uruguayan Orthodox rabbis Yeshivat Har Etzion alumni Nuclear engineers