Rabbi Yona Reiss, a noted Torah scholar, attorney, and jurist, is a Rosh Yeshiva at RIETS and is the former Maxand Marion Grill Dean of Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.Rabbi Reiss is a summa cum laude graduate of Yeshiva College, YU¹sundergraduate liberal arts and sciences college for men, and went on toreceive his law degree from Yale Law School, where he was senior editor ofthe Law Journal. He received his rabbinic ordination from RIETS, where healso earned the distinction of Yadin Yadin.Rabbi Reiss served as director of the Beth Din of America from 1998 to 2008.The Beth Din, which was founded by and is affiliated with the RabbinicalCouncil of America (RCA) and sponsored by the Union of Orthodox JewishCongregations of America (OU), is the largest rabbinical court in thecountry. It handles over 500 cases a year in the areas of Jewish divorce,commercial arbitrations, and mediation.In his directorship of the Beth Din, Rabbi Reiss worked to resolve cases ofagunot and popularize the use of the RCA pre-nuptial agreement as aprotection against future agunah problems.From 1992 to 1998, Rabbi Reiss worked as an associate at the internationallaw firm of Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton in New York City. He maintainedan association with the firm until 1999. He is a member of the New YorkState Bar Association, a certified mediator for the City of New York courtsystem, and a member of the Family and Divorce Mediation Council for NewYork.Rabbi Reiss serves on the editorial board of Tradition magazine. A frequentwriter on a variety of topics relating to both Jewish and secular law, hehas published widely in Jewish publications, as well as in the Wall StreetJournal and New York Law Journal.Rabbi Reiss and his wife Mindy have five sons and live in Riverdale, NY.
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