Dr. Jared Greenblatt
Dr. Jared Greenblatt
Cape Town, South Africa
Currently teaching in Mechina and a student in Ohr Lagolah
At Cambridge University, Dr. Jared Rael Greenblatt, B.A., M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D., developed a fascination for modern Aramaic, leading him to Israel to interview Jewish refugees from Kurdistan who speak Aramaic as their mother tongue. He even published a dictionary on the subject: The Neo-Aramaic Dialect of Amedia.
His turning point came when his rabbi suggested he attend the Ohr Somayach "Mentors Mission" Shabbaton in Tsefat:
“After Shabbos, a man strikes up a conversation with me; finally he says, ‘Next time you’re in Jerusalem I’d like you to come and see me.’”
It was Rabbi Nota Schiller.
“I walked into that meeting with my ‘fifteen unanswerable questions’. Rabbi Schiller answered ten. The answer to the other five, Rabbi Schiller said, I could appreciate only after some full-time Yeshiva study.”
Today, Yitzchak is married, studies in Ohr Lagolah and teaches Torah at Ohr Somayach, Jerusalem, researches for Tel Aviv University, translates from five languages, and leads High Holiday services in Sydney, Australia.