Fishel Jacobs is an American-Israeli rabbi, martial artist, ex-Israel Prison Service officer, author and speaker.
Background
Rabbi Jacobs is a devout Chabad-Lubavitch Rabbi and speaker. Jacobs has published ten non-fiction books, including works on difficult areas of practical Talmudic law.
His interviews, articles and columns frequently appear in Jewish and mainstream media. Rabbi Jacobs was born in 1956 in Brooklyn, raised in Vermont, and has lived in Israel since 1979.
In 1974, Jacobs earned a black belt in karate from the International Tang Soo Do Association. After graduating from the University of Vermont and winning many regional heavyweight Black Belt tournaments, including the 1976 YMCA mid-Atlantic Heavyweight title, he immigrated to Israel to study in the rabbinical school in Kfar Chabad.
He was presumably the first American to receive rabbinic ordination by Israel’s head rabbis, holds a PhD degree (equivalency) from the Israel Department of Religion, completed training as a Rabbinic attorney and an LL.B. in law from the College of Law & Business.
In 2006, he was promoted to Eighth Degree Black Belt Master Instructor.
Rabbi Jacobs is the legal authority for numerous popular web sites.
Concurrently, from 1992 until 2005 he served as a full-time chaplain, a staff-officer with the rank of Major, in the Israel Prison Service (IPS).
He retired from that position in 2005 and subsequently published the first book ever describing life within the IPS, republished in 2016 under the title Coffee Melts Bars: My Israeli Prison Career.
In 2021, Jacobs graduated from the College of Law and Business with an LLB in law.
Family
Fishel is married to Miriam, who is director of the Biblical Studies Department at Beit Rivkah seminaryl. They have seven children, two of whom are attorneys. Jacobs performs and speaks worldwide.
Books
- Family Purity: A Guide to Family Purity, Campus Living and Learning (2000)
- Chochmot Hatahara, Hebrew Commentary on Talmudic Law, 1998
- Israel Behind Bars: True Stories of Hope And Redemption, (2005)
- Blech Book – Complete & Illustrated Guide, Merkos Linyonei Chinuch (2007)
- Two Kings – Children’s Series, Israel Bookshop Publications (2009)
- Coffee Melts Bars: My Israeli Maximum Security Prison Life, (2016)
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