Rosh yeshiva, (pl. Heb. Roshei yeshiva; Yeshivish Rosh yeshivas), (Hebrew: ראש ישיבה‎), is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy (yeshiva). It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education. The rosh yeshiva is required to have a vast and penetrating knowledge of the Talmud and the ability to achieve a level of mastery of his material and an ability to analyse and present new perspectives, called chidushim, (novellae) verbally and often in print.

Yeshivas play a central role in the life of certain communities within Orthodox Judaism, so the position of rosh yeshiva is more than just a dean of a school. A rosh yeshiva is often a pillar of leadership in extended communities. In Hasidic Judaism the role of rosh yeshiva is secondary to the Rebbe, who is head of the Hasidic dynasty that controls it. In many Hassidic sects, the rosh yeshiva of a school will be the son or son-in-law of the Rebbe, the assumed heir of the Rebbe.

Aharon Lichtenstein (born May 24, 1933) is a noted Orthodox rabbi and rosh yeshiva.

Rabbi Lichtenstein was born in Paris, France, but grew up in the United States, studied in Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin under Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner. He earned a BA and semicha ("rabbinic ordination") at Yeshiva University and a PhD in English Literature at Harvard University, where he studied under Douglas Bush.

After serving as Rosh yeshiva at Yeshiva University for several years, Rabbi Lichtenstein answered Rabbi Yehuda Amital's request in 1971 to join him at the helm of Yeshivat Har Etzion, located in Gush Etzion, and moved to Jerusalem. He still maintains a close connection to Yeshiva University as a Rosh Kollel for the Gruss Institute in Jerusalem, an affiliate of Yeshiva University and its rabbinical school, Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary.

In 2005, he and his wife Dr. Tovah (née Soloveitchik) moved to Alon Shvut, where Yeshivat Har Etzion is located. They were married in 1960 and have six children.

Eli A. Friedman (born in Brooklyn, New York, April 9, 1933) attended New Utrecht High School, Brooklyn College, and the State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center where he received an M.D. degree in 1957. In 1957, Friedman married Mildred Barrett-Lennard with whom he fathered three daughters: Amy Louise, Rebecca Alica, and Sara Jo. He served as Intern, Nephrology Fellow, and Senior Medical Resident at Harvard Medical School's Peter Bent Brigham Hospital from 1957 to 1961. After two years as an Epidemic Intelligence Officer for the United States Public Health Service's Communicable Disease Center, from 1961 to 1963, Friedman returned to SUNY Downstate in Brooklyn, New York, where he is currently a Distinguished Teaching Professor of Medicine. Dr. Friedman was Chief of the Division of Nephrology in SUNY Downstate's Department of Medicine until 2009. [www.eli.friedman@downstate.edu].

In 1976, Friedman invented the "Suitcase Kidney," a portable dialysis machine scaled to fit a metal attache case that permits dialysis patients to be mobile performing their hemodialyses off site in hotel rooms or on ships. By being able to dialyze themselves, patients gained a large degree of freedom from large, centralized treatment centers enhancing their life quality[1]. Exceptionally high liability insurance rates restricted the broad utilization of the device which still is limited in application.