29 Facts About Aryeh Kaplan

Aryeh Moshe Eliyahu Kaplan was an American Orthodox rabbi, author, and translator best known for his Living Torah edition of the Torah and extensive Kabbalistic commentaries.

Aryeh Kaplan became well-known as a prolific writer and was lauded as an original thinker.

Aryeh Kaplan was born in the Bronx, New York City, to Samuel and Fannie Kaplan of the Sefardi Recanati family from Salonika, Greece.

Aryeh Kaplan's mother died on December 31,1947, when he was 13, and his two younger sisters, Sandra and Barbara, were sent to a foster home.

Aryeh Kaplan did not grow up religious, and was known as "Len".

Aryeh Kaplan's family had only a slight connection to Jewish practice, but he was encouraged to say Kaddish for his mother.

When he was 15, Aryeh Kaplan enrolled at Yeshiva Torah Vodaas, and at age 18 was among "a small cadre of talmidim" selected to help Rabbi Simcha Wasserman open Yeshiva Ohr Elchonon, a new yeshiva in Los Angeles.

In January 1956, Aryeh Kaplan went to Israel to study at the Mir in Jerusalem.

Aryeh Kaplan then moved to Hyattsville, Maryland, in 1961 to study physics at the University of Maryland and begin his first professional position as a research scientist at the National Bureau of Standards's Fluid Mechanics Division, where he was in charge of magnetohydrodynamics research.

In 1965, Aryeh Kaplan switched careers and began practicing as a rabbi.

In 1971 Aryeh Kaplan moved to Brooklyn, New York, where he lived until the end of his life.

Aryeh Kaplan did not hold any positions there as a pulpit rabbi, but had many other roles which involved, chiefly, writing and editing religious publications:.

Aryeh Kaplan would deliver lectures at his home in Kensington, which many locals would regularly attend.

Aryeh Kaplan served as the rabbinic consultant for the play "Yentl", after the director met him on the Staten Island Ferry.

Aryeh Kaplan was involved with NCSY as an author, speaker, and spiritual mentor.

When I invited Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan to write on the concept of Tefillin for the Orthodox Union's National Conference of Synagogue Youth, he completed the 96-page manuscript of God, Man and Tefillin with sources and footnotes from the Talmud, Midrash and Zohar - in less than 2 weeks.

In 1973, Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan translated "Rebbe Nachman's Wisdom", one of Breslov's most important works, into English on Rabbi Zvi Rosenfeld's request.

Aryeh Kaplan translated and annotated two other books: Until the Mashiach: The Life of Rabbi Nachman, a day-to-day account of Rebbe Nachman's life, and Rabbi Nachman's Tikkun.

Aryeh Kaplan was involved in preserving Rabbi Nachman of Breslov's grave.

Aryeh Kaplan produced works on topics as varied as prayer, Jewish marriage and meditation.

Aryeh Kaplan's writing incorporated ideas from across the spectrum of Rabbinic literature, Kabbalah, and Hasidut, all without ignoring science.

From 1976 onward, Aryeh Kaplan worked to translate Me'am Lo'ez, which was originally written in Ladino and in time edited for Hebrew.

Aryeh Kaplan was described by Rabbi Pinchas Stolper, his original sponsor, as never fearing to speak his mind.

Aryeh Kaplan put forward creative and original ideas and hypotheses, all the time anchoring them in classical works of rabbinic literature.

Aryeh Kaplan died at his home of a heart attack on January 28,1983, at the age of 48.

Aryeh Kaplan was buried at the Mount of Olives Jewish Cemetery in Jerusalem.

Aryeh Kaplan's Living Torah was posthumously followed by a work written by others for the rest of the Bible, The Living Nach.

Aryeh Kaplan's works continue to be read, and his extensive references are used as a resource.

Aryeh Kaplan's works have been translated into Czech, French, Hungarian, Modern Hebrew, Portuguese, Russian, German and Spanish.