Center for Jewish Values

The Center for Jewish Values (known in Hebrew as Linas HaTzedek) was founded in 2001 by Rabbis Tzvi Muller and Paysach Freedman.[1] The Center researches, teaches and promotes specifically the interpersonal mitzvot, Judaism's guidelines on responsibility towards one's fellow man. The Center for Jewish Values has introduced the study of the interpersonal mitzvot to thousands of people worldwide through the use of study forums, innovative materials and varied media.[2]

The Center has published a seven-volume series, Mareh Mekomos on Bein Adom L'chavero, with comprehensive sources on all bein adom le'chavero topics. Originally published in Hebrew, the series is now being adapted into English. The first volume of the English adaptation appeared in 2010, as The Torah's Guidelines for Interpersonal Relationships. Additionally, the Center has released the Mishpatei HaShalom Series, seforim on bein adom le'chavero written by Dayan Yitzchak Silver. Included in this series is the English-language Code of Jewish Conduct, published in 2008, and distributed by Israel Book Shop. In 2013, the Center published Rabbi Silver's Money in Halachah, which addresses monetary matters through a Halachic perspective.

The Dean of Center for Jewish Values is Rabbi Yitzchak Berkovits. Rabbi Berkovits is a world-renowned expert on mitzvot bein adom le'chavero.[3] The Center has published nine volumes of Rabbi Berkovits's groundbreaking writings on the interpersonal mitzvot. These writings, as well as his recorded audio lectures on Bein Adom L'chavero are accessed by his students on www.jvalues.com/media.

The Center for Jewish Values is a non-profit organization funded exclusively by private donations. With offices in Jerusalem, Israel and Baltimore, Maryland, it operates programs in over twenty-five cities in the United States and Israel.

Its flagship program is the Linas HaTzedek Kollel Network, a group of kollelim across Israel which study the interpersonal mitzvot. Locations include Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Beitar Illit, Ashdod and more. In North America, the organization has organized study groups for laymen (baalei battim chaburot) to study these mitzvot.[4] Locations include Baltimore, New York City and Los Angeles. In 2010, the Center launched an Israel-based program to equip American men with knowledge of Business halacha prior to their entering the workplace in their native cities.[5]

The Center for Jewish Values inspired the founding of the Ahavas Yisrael Women's Project, an international network of women's study groups which meet regularly. These groups focus on improving love of one's fellow, and draw heavily on the Center's Bein Adom L'Chavero teachings. Rabbis Berkovits, Silver and Freedman of the Center review and approve the materials which the Women's Project publishes.[6]