Mordechai Willig

Rav Willig studied at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh,[1] and was present for the Six Day War which broke out in June 1967.[2][3] Born in New York City, Rav Willig graduated from Rabbi Jacob Joseph School and received a B.A. in mathematics in 1968 from Yeshiva College and an M.S. in Jewish history in 1971 from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies. At Yeshiva University, he was a student of Rabbi Ahron Soloveichik and Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein, and he primarily learned from Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik.[4]

Rabbi Willig studied under Rav Lichtenstein in the Kollel at Yeshiva University from 1968-1971, during Rav Lichtenstein's last three years at YU.[4] Rav Lichtenstein made Aliyah in 1971, and in 1973 he offered Rabbi Willig a position as a Ram at Yeshivat Har Etzion.[4] Rabbi Willig travelled to the Yeshiva in Israel to give a trial shiur.[4] At this time he also received an offer from Yeshiva University from Rabbi Zevulun Charlop, and in 1973 Rabbi Willig was appointed as rosh yeshiva at the Mazer School of Talmudic studies at Yeshiva University and holds that position, along with the position of rosh kollel at RIETS.[5] The position at Yeshivat Har Etzion was eventually given to Rav Willig's former Chavruta in Rav Lichtenstein's shiur, Rabbi Ezra Bick.[6]

In 1976, at the behest of Rabbi Saul Berman and Rabbi Haym Soloveitchik, Yeshiva University introduced Talmud shiurim at the Stern College for Women.[7] In 1977, Rav Willig was recruited to teach the more advanced women, as "Rabbi Willig had emerged as a popular and brilliant young Torah scholar," and "the fullness and excitement of his own engagement in the process of teaching Talmud to women was a vital element in the general acceptance of the project within the walls of RIETS and Stern College."[7]

Rabbi Willig has been the rabbi and spiritual leader at the Young Israel of Riverdale Synagogue, in Riverdale, The Bronx, New York, since 1974.

During the summer, Rav Willig is the Rosh Kollel of the college in Morasha Kollel.

Rabbi Willig is also the av beis din of the Beth Din of America (https://bethdin.org/about/#rabbis), the court of the Rabbinical Council of America. He co-authored the Rabbinical Council of America's prenuptial agreement with Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg.[8]

Rabbi Willig is the author of a sefer entitled Am Mordechai, which came out in four volumes (1992 on Brachot, 2005 on Shabbat 2010 on Seder Moed and 2016 on Shulchan Aruch).

In 1989, Rabbi Willig led a Bet Din that heard allegations of abuse by Rabbi Baruch Lanner.[9] The Bet Din found Lanner guilty of only three minor charges and found three other charges to be unsubstantiated.[10] The Bet Din read their determination to the litigants, to the Rabbinical Council of Bergen County, and to Lanner's two employers, the Orthodox Union and a synagogue in New Milford, New Jersey.[10]

On February 19, 2003, Rabbi Willig publicly apologized for reaching what he eventually realized to be incorrect conclusions and for other "mistakes" made during the 1989 Bet Din proceedings. He noted that since the Bet Din did not have experience adjudicating matters of abuse, they should not have agreed to take the case.[10][11] A report prepared in 2000 by a special commission appointed to investigate the Orthodox Union and Rabbi Willig's Bet Din role in the Lanner case critiqued the failure of taking action and thus allowing Lanner's abusive actions to "continue unchecked for many years."[12]

Rabbi Willig resides with his wife in Riverdale, New York, New York. They have nine children and over 50 grandchildren. Four of his children live in Israel, teaching at various Yeshivos, among them Yeshivat Torat Shraga in Jerusalem, Yeshivat Mesivta Beit Shemesh in Beit Shemesh.

He is the first cousin of Rabbi Avi Weiss, who is the former senior Rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale. Rabbis Weiss and Willig are both part of the Vaad of Riverdale.

• Official YU biography
• Articles, audio, and video on TorahWeb.org
• Shiurim by Rabbi Mordechai Willig