Rabbi Haskel Lookstein, now Emeritus, has been the Rabbi of Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun since 1958 and Principal, now Emeritus, of the Ramaz School since 1966. He is the Joseph H. Lookstein Professor of Homiletics at Yeshiva University where he has been teaching since 1979. He also serves as a Vice President of the Beth Din of America.
Rabbi Lookstein has served as President of the New York Board of Rabbis, Chairman of the National Rabbinic Cabinet of UJA and President of the Synagogue Council of America. He also was a Commissioner of the New York City Human Rights Commission.
Rabbi Lookstein, a graduate of Ramaz School (’49), received his B.A. from Columbia College, his Master’s Degree in Medieval Jewish History and his PhD in Modern Jewish History from the Bernard Revel Graduate School of Yeshiva University. He was ordained by Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and Dr. Samuel Belkin as a graduate of the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary in 1958. Married to Audrey in 1959, the Looksteins are blessed with eight children and children-in-law, fifteen grandchildren (and four grandchildren-in-law) and three great-grandchildren.
The Rabbi’s doctoral dissertation was published in 1985 under the title Were We Our Brothers’ Keepers: The Public Response of American Jews to the Holocaust 1938-1944. Most recently, his biography, authored by Dr. Raphael Medoff, is titled Rav Chesed. It was published by Ktav Publishing Company.
In his non-professional life he is a rabid rooter for the Mets, Giants, Knicks and Rangers in addition to being an avid tennis player.