Rabbi Avi Weiss, US liberal Orthodox leader, gets Israeli citizenship; ‘no longer sure’ what the future is for US Jews

Rabbi Avi Weiss, the prominent American liberal Orthodox spiritual leader, has obtained Israeli citizenship along with his wife, he writes in a social media post.

They will not be moving to Israel full-time, Weiss tells The Times of Israel, adding that most of their grandchildren live in Israel. They formally became citizens in April, Weiss says.

“For us, it’s a dream come true, becoming citizens,” he tells ToI. “We try to be here as often as we can.”

Weiss is the founding rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale synagogue in New York City, and is also a founder of the Yeshivat Chovevei Torah rabbinical seminary for men, and the Yeshivat Maharat rabbinic seminary for women. He is also known as an outspoken advocate for Israel and, in previous decades, as a leading activist in the movement to free Soviet Jewry.

In a post on X, Weiss recounts handing his papers in to an Ethiopian-Israeli official, and recalls his past activism on behalf of Ethiopian Jews.

“I told him: ‘I remember the 1970s and ’80s, when we marched and protested so Ethiopian Jews could come home to Israel. Back then, many questioned whether Ethiopian Jews were Jewish at all. We insisted our Black brothers and sisters were as Jewish as any of us,’” he writes in the post. “And now, 35 years later, here was a holy Ethiopian Jew confirming my Judaism.”

While discussing his choice to obtain Israeli citizenship now, Weiss, 81, alludes to rising antisemitism in the US.

“If I were asked today what is the future for Jews in America, I’m no longer sure,” he tells ToI. “I am sure [that] this, the State of Israel, is our place.”