Asher Lopatin is an American Orthodox rabbi and Jewish communal leader. Born in the San Francisco Bay Area, California, to an Orthodox Jewish family—his father was a research chemist—he graduated from Maimonides School in Brookline, Massachusetts. He earned a B.A. in International Relations and Islamic Studies from Boston University, where he was a Truman Scholar, Boston University Trustee Scholar, and Phi Beta Kappa member. As a Rhodes Scholar, he received an M.Phil. in Medieval Arabic Thought from the University of Oxford in 1989 and pursued doctoral work on Islamic fundamentalist attitudes toward Jews. He received rabbinic ordination (semicha) from Yeshiva University as a Wexner Graduate Fellow, as well as from Rav Ahron Soloveichik and Yeshivas Brisk in Chicago.

Lopatin's career includes serving as spiritual leader of Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation in Chicago prior to 2013 and as president of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School from 2013 to 2018, succeeding Rabbi Weiss. He is currently the founding rabbi and spiritual leader of Kehillat Etz Chayim, an Open Orthodox synagogue in Oak Park, Michigan; founder and executive director of the Detroit National Center for Civil Discourse (including a Fellowship in Civil Discourse at Wayne State University since September 2019); and director of Community Relations for the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He is a former faculty member of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America.

His affiliations include membership in the Council on Foreign Relations; vice president (Open Orthodox) of the Chicago Board of Rabbis; board member of the International Rabbinic Fellowship (Open Orthodox); and ex officio board of trustees for Chicago Jewish Day School.

In personal life, he is married to Rachel Lopatin, co-founder of Chicago Jewish Day School, and is the father of a daughter who suffered a serious illness in 2009.

Ideologically, Lopatin is a Jewish denominational pluralist who emphasizes engagement across Jewish movements and with broader society, stating: 'I am a pluralist: We need to learn from all Jews, and connect and relate to all Jews – Reform, Conservative, Renewal; I believe it is critical for Judaism that we engage with the greater society as well...'

Contact: Email asher@jewishannarbor.org; Synagogue etzchayimdetroit@gmail.com; Instagram @rabbiasherlopatin; X/Twitter @asherlopatin; LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/asher-lopatin-8783a439.

No controversies, legal issues, or scandals identified.