Dr. Natan Ophir (Offenbacher)

Dr. Natan Ophir (Offenbacher) grew up in Philadelphia and graduated from the Talmudical Yeshiva of Philadelphia. He first met Reb Shlomo in 1969 when his family moved to 81st Street in Manhattan, two blocks from the Carlebach Shul. Natan graduated Yeshiva University in New York in 1974 and then moved to Israel. He studied for seven years at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav Kook where he received ordination from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. Then he completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in Jewish Philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem where he served as rabbi of the campus from 1982-1998. Currently, he directs JMIJ, the Jewish Meditation Institute Jerusalem, whose goal it is to teach practical Jewish Meditation in the light of research in neuropsychology. He also teaches at the Jerusalem College of Technology and the Ono Academic College.