There is a common question often asked of a Jew who lives in America. Are you an American Jew, or a Jewish American? How one answers that question conveys a crucial outlook on life. One might wonder the same of an esteemed professional such as Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz. Is he a renowned Rabbi and author who informs his work by his “other profession” – being a doctor?  Or is he an esteemed doctor and Rabbi who also writes books? We needn’t answer this question – we are fortunate to benefit from all of his expertise, brought together in an impressive list of published books, five of which are currently  available on Jewish E-Books:

Anatomy of a Search (ArtScroll)

 Living Inspired (Targum/Feldheim)

 Worldmask (Targum/Feldheim)

 The Thinking Jewish Teenager’s Guide to Life (Targum/Feldheim)

 Letters to a Buddhist Jew (Targum/Feldheim) with David Gottlieb

 Dangerous Disease & Dangerous Therapy in Jewish Medical Ethics (Targum)

Reb Simcha Speaks (ArtScroll) with Yaakov Branfman

Born in Johannesburg, South Africa, Rabbi Doctor Tatz became a physician and then worked in the States in internal medicine. He returned to South Africa where he was a medical officer in the South African Defence force, and then spent some years in Israel, where he devoted himself to practicing medicine, while studying in Yeshiva. Years of Talmudic study and teaching Jewish thought and medical ethics in Jerusalem led to authoring a number of books on these subjects. Rabbi Tatz’s books have acquired a reputation as classics that appeal to all types of Jews throughout the world.

As a Rabbi who stands at the forefront of the Jewish outreach movement, it was a natural evolution for him to publish some of his bestsellers, “Anatomy of a Search,” “Living Inspired, “Worldmask” “The Thinking Teenager’s Guide to Life”, “Letters to a Buddhist Jew,” and more in ebook form because, as he comments:  “Everything I do is geared towards outreach: reaching out to Jews around the world who have not had the privilege of an authentic Torah education. If ebooks are going to be a major new medium, then I must use it to reach out to those who will use it.”

In the book world, it’s not unusual for a book to go out of print after only a year or two, but Rabbi Tatz’s books stand out as timeless, as relevant today as they were ten years ago. I asked Rabbi Tatz if he had any idea of why this is so:  “I write about the things that moved me most in my discovery of the depth of Torah thought,” he reflects. “These themes are timeless; in fact, part of their fascination is that these ancient ideas apply to the modern world and its issues as sharply as they ever did.”  Rabbi Tatz believes that his readers respond strongly when they are shown the organizing principles that underlie their experience of the world. It’s the best marketing in the world.  “Little else could spark interest as much as these powerful ideas; one needs no coercing to investigate further when faced with such elegant explanations and insights,” he says.

Rabbi Tatz lectures around the world, mostly in English-speaking environments although sometimes elsewhere with the aid of translators.  His feet are planted firmly in the world of yeshiva and Torah, and also, still, in his life in medicine.

He particularly relishes lecturing in hospitals and other medical settings where, as he states it, “I can reach Jewish doctors who may not feel ready to hear things that sound too “religious” to them, but who are more than ready to learn about the Torah approach to their professional concerns.”

Outreach takes many forms. Sometimes, it’s one Jewish doctor talking to another, and sometimes, as in his book, “Anatomy of a Search” it’s an author detailing the experiences of a number of people from very different walks of life who crossed paths in Jerusalem when they came to study at Ohr Somayach. Rabbi Tatz has no intention of retiring from his medical halachic work or book writing anytime soon. In the works is a volume entirely devoted to the subject of Free Will, a new edition of the medical book, and also a volume of poetry. In London, where he lives now with his family and has been teaching at the Jewish Learning Exchange—England’s division of Ohr Somayach Institutions—for fifteen years, he is steeped in local Jewish outreach—but Rabbi Tatz still manages to impact Jews around the world  through his speaking tours, printed books, and B’ezras Hashem, now through Jewish ebooks as well.