Aaron L. Raskin is an American Chabad Lubavitch rabbi and writer. He serves as spiritual leader of Congregation B'nai Avraham, an Orthodox synagogue in Brooklyn Heights, New York, and dean of Brooklyn Heights Jewish Academy.
Early life
Aaron Raskin was born to Benzion and Bassie Raskin and raised in Crown Heights, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. His maternal grandfather was Jacob J. Hecht, official translator of Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneerson, and Shea Hecht is his maternal uncle. His grandfather's strong influence plus the fact that Raskin himself came from a long line of rabbis, with all his maternal uncles being rabbis, helped him decide to embark on a rabbinical path. Raskin graduated from the United Lubavitcher Yeshiva and the Rabbinical College of America with a BA in Rabbinical Studies.
Raskin served as a shliach (emissary) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe in Great Britain, and was the representative on Jewish leadership on a visit to the House of Lords. In doing so, he was following in the footsteps of his grandfather, who had served on the Ethics Committees during the administrations of President George H. W. Bush and New York Governor Mario Cuomo.
Rabbinical career
Congregation B'nai Avraham
As the shliach of the Rebbe to Downtown Brooklyn, Raskin founded Congregation B'nai Avraham at 117 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights at age 21 with a handful of families. It eventually grew into a sizable and active congregation. A pre-school called Kiddie Korner that started inside the synagogue's brownstone location, expanded in 2009 to include a day care center called Gan Menachem, housed in a glass-fronted street-level site at the intersection of Clinton and Montague streets. The families served by the pre-school and daycare are a diverse group that includes secular Jews, less-observant Jews, and some non-Jews. In 2007, the synagogue's stoop was defaced with a swastika. In March 2009 during Purim, Raskin, while wearing The Man with the Yellow Hat costume, helped police to catch a thief who had been robbing the synagogue's charity boxes.
Raskin holds regular weekly classes, open to the entire community. These classes include: a Monday evening lecture series devoted to topics ranging from Pirkei Avot ("Ethics of the Fathers") to kabbalah; a Wednesday morning women's Weekly Torah portion class; a Wednesday afternoon class geared toward male professionals given at private offices near Brooklyn Borough Hall, as well as lecture sessions in Tanya, Mishneh Torah, and Talmud held in the early morning and late afternoon of every Shabbat (Jewish Sabbath). His weekly classes can also be attended through Zoom since 2020.
Mikveh
Raskin built a state-of-the-art mikveh (ritual bath) in B'nai Avraham, based on the Lubavitcher Rebbe's philosophy that mikvehs should be aesthetically pleasing. The mikveh, located in the basement of the Remsen Street building, has the atmosphere of a mini spa, though all the requirements of halakhah (Jewish law) are fulfilled in its design. In October 2011, Oprah Winfrey, wearing an austere, cape-like dress in dark colors, took a tour of the mikveh for a segment on the daily life of Hasidic Jews for her television series, "Oprah's Next Chapter," which aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Reporting on the visit, The New York Post called her "Shul Girl Oprah."
Hanukkah menorah
Every Hanukkah, Raskin oversees the placement of a giant 32-foot menorah in front of Brooklyn's Supreme Court building on Cadman Plaza, and lights it reciting the traditional blessings. Local energy provider Consolidated Edison provides a bucket truck to facilitate the nightly lighting ceremony. The menorah has since been designated Brooklyn's Official Menorah by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg accompanied Raskin in lighting the menorah in 2011.
Raskin serves as dean of Brooklyn Heights Jewish Academy, which opened in the fall of 2015. He received a dayonis judgeship from Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg and Rabbi Yohoram Ulman in 2017.
Conversion and non-Jews
Raskin was involved for many years in conversions to Judaism, particularly at the start of his career. He continues to offer classes geared toward baal teshuvas (returnees to Judaism) and potential converts.