Rabbi Dr. David Horwitz

Rabbi Dr. David Horwitz is presently a Rosh Yeshiva at RIETS, Yeshia University, where he holds the Rabbi David Lifshitz Chair in Talmud, and where he has taught since 1988.  In elementary school, he studied piano for seven years, and he maintains a strong interest in all things musical.  In high school, he achieved distinction by winning first prize in the National Bible Contest and subsequently representing the United States in the International Bible Contest, held annually in Jerusalem.

He is an alumnus of numerous Yeshiva University schools: the Yeshiva University High School for Boys, Yeshiva College (his B.A., magna cum laude , was in political science), RIETS (where he received semikha yoreh yoreh and yadin yadin ), and the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies (where he received both his M.A. and Ph.D. in Jewish History).  His Ph.D. dissertation was titled The Ethics of Gersonides , and dealt with the multifaceted fourteenth century biblical commentator, philosopher, and astronomer.  He is presently also an Instructor of Jewish History and Philosophy at Yeshiva College.

He is married to Fraidy (nee Shapiro) and has two children, Yoel Mordecai Zvi and Chana Rachel Esther, and currently resides in Cedarhurst, Long Island.

In 1997, he was recipient of Yeshiva University's 13th Annual Moshe and Madelaine Baumel Judaic Faculty Incentive Award, which honors outstanding Jewish studies educators at the University and RIETS.