Isaiah Rothstein is an American

Orthodox Jewish Orthodox Judaism is a collective term for the traditionalist branches of contemporary Judaism. Theologically, it is chiefly defined by regarding the Torah, both Written and Oral, as literally revealed by God on Mount Sinai and faithfully tra ...

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 ...

, author, musician and public speaker. He previously served as the Spiritual and Experiential Educator at

Carmel Academy Carmel Academy (formerly the Westchester Fairfield Hebrew Academy, WFHA) was a Jewish private school in Greenwich, Connecticut, serving grades Kindergarten through 8. Also including transitional Kindergarten The school originally was located in P ...

of Greenwich in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

. Rothstein is best known for his essay "Color Erases, Color Paints" which generated extensive debate within the Jewish community about race and diversity.

Rabbinic career

Rothstein received his rabbinic ordination from

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

. Rothstein, using Torah based resources, preaches about

racial justice Anti-racism encompasses a range of ideas and political actions which are meant to counter racial prejudice, systemic racism, and the oppression of specific racial groups. Anti-racism is usually structured around conscious efforts and deliberate ...

in both the Jewish community and in the United States at large. Rothstein previously served as a community gatherer at the Beis Community of Washington Heights. He served as rabbi-in-residence with

Hazon Hazon ( ) is an American nonprofit organization based in New York City that seeks to "create new vision" in the Jewish community through outdoor and environmental education. It was founded in 2000 by its British-born CEO Nigel Savage. The orga ...

, a Jewish

environmental Environment most often refers to: __NOTOC__ * Natural environment, referring respectively to all living and non-living things occurring naturally and the physical and biological factors along with their chemical interactions that affect an organism ...

organization with 20,000 members, advocated for a faith-based response to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

. According to the Swedish paper ''Svenska Yle'', Rothstein represented Hazon to greet the international climate activist celebrity

Greta Thunberg Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3January 2003) is a Swedish climate activist, climate and political activist initially known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action to climate change mitigation, mitigate the effec ...

upon her arrival in the United States. Rothstein is an advocate of bible-based environmental conservation.

Music career

Rothstein is also an accomplished musician and performs at functions throughout the Jewish and non-Jewish world. His music incorporates references from his childhood experiences and diverse musical traditions. He is the leader of the band Zayah.

Personal life

Rothstein is originally from

Monsey, New York Monsey (, ) is a hamlet and census-designated place in the town of Ramapo, Rockland County, New York, United States, north of Airmont, east of Viola, south of New Hempstead, and west of Spring Valley. The village of Kaser is surrounded by ...

, although his family has deep roots in the American past. His mother is an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

convert to Judaism Conversion to Judaism ( or ) is the process by which non-Jews adopt the Jewish religion and become members of the Jewish ethnoreligious community. It thus resembles both conversion to other religions and naturalization. "Thus, by converting ...

. Isaiah Rothstein's father was raised in a Jewish home in New York, but became

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pag ...

through

Chabad Chabad, also known as Lubavitch, Habad and Chabad-Lubavitch (; ; ), is a dynasty in Hasidic Judaism. Belonging to the Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) branch of Orthodox Judaism, it is one of the world's best-known Hasidic movements, as well as one of ...

. Rothstein is married to the actress and filmmaker Leah Gottfried, known for the successful

webseries A web series (also known as webseries, short-form series, and web show) is a series of short screenplay, scripted or Improvisation, non-scripted online videos, generally in Episode, episodic form, released on the Internet (i.e. World Wide Web), w ...

'' Soon By You''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rothstein, Isaiah African-American rabbis 21st-century African-American clergy African-American non-fiction writers Jewish American non-fiction writers American male non-fiction writers American Orthodox rabbis Writers from Englewood, New Jersey 1988 births Living people People from Monsey, New York Writers from Greenwich, Connecticut 20th-century American rabbis 21st-century American rabbis 20th-century African-American people