Rabbi Akiva & Layala Males relocated to Memphis, TN in the summer of 2016, and they are thrilled to be part of the Young Israel of Memphis family. In addition to the many roles he plays at Young Israel, Rabbi Males also enjoys teaching Torah at the Margolin Hebrew Academy-Feinstone Yeshiva of the South. Please feel free to email Rabbi Males at: rabbi@yiom.org

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Rabbi Males regularly writes articles for Jewish journals, magazines, websites, and newspapers. Links to many of his published items are included below.

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Videos:

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• Click Here to see a short video clip of Rabbi Males offering the opening invocation before the Tennessee Senate in Nashville, TN on February 13, 2017

• Click Here to see a short video clip of Rabbi Males offering the opening benediction before the U.S. House of Representatives in Washington, D.C. on April 23, 2008

• Click Here to view regularly posted Divrei Torah from Rabbi Males on his YouTube page  

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Children's Book:

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• Shabbos With Our Chocolate Moose (Menucha Publishers, April 2023)

Journal Articles:

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• When A Memphian Thrived In Hebron: The Letters of Aharon Dovid Shainberg (1906-1929) (Tradition, Spring 2019)

• Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink and Dukhen: Birkat Kohanim and Simhat Torah in the Diaspora (Tradition, Summer 2016)

• Reconstructing the Destruction of the Tabernacle of Shiloh (Jewish Bible Quarterly, Vol. 44:1, January - March 2016)

• Passing for Christian During the Holocaust: A New Look at Rabbi Ephraim Oshry's Responsa (Tradition, Fall 2013)

• Jewish GIs and Their Dog-Tags (Hakirah, Summer 2013)

• Unmasking an Odd-Sounding Purim Custom: A Theory (Tradition, Winter 2012)

Magazine Articles:

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• What's in the Rabbi's Shopping Cart? (Mishpacha Magazine, February 25, 2025) 

• What Am I Doing in Murfreesboro? (Mishpacha Magazine, April 18, 2023)

• An Indelible Memory of Rav Yaakov Kamenetsky, zt”l (Ami Magazine, May 12, 2021)

• Click Here to read an interview with Rabbi Males in Hamodia's Inyan Magazine (February 3, 2021)

• What's In Your Anti-Cremation Toolkit? (Jewish Action, Summer 2018) Follow-up letter to the editor, and author's response (Jewish Action, Fall 2018),

• Politics and the Pulpit: Should Rabbis Discuss Politics in Shul? (Jewish Action, Fall 2016)

• One Good Deed Leads to Another . . . and Sometimes a Wedding (Jewish Action, Summer 2016)

• Chocolate and Eagles and Lions, Oh My! (Jewish Action, Fall 2015)

• A Yom Kippur Guest (Jewish Action, Fall 2014), Follow-up letters to the editor, and author's response (Jewish Action, Winter 2014)

• The Rabbi As a Rastafarian Consultant (Jewish Action, Spring 2014)

• The Story of Mahanoy City: The Disappearance of a Jewish Community in a Small American Town (Jewish Action, Summer 2012)

Online Articles:

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• A World War II Liberator’s Letter to his Hometown Rabbi (The Seforim Blog, January 13, 2025)

• Coca-Cola Crates and Sukkos: Is It the Real Thing? (Torah Musings, September 29, 2023)

• Mrs. Ethel Abrams – Ettel Ha’Ivriya of Clarksdale, Mississippi (The Seforim Blog, September 4, 2023)

• Memorial Day Memories: A Visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center (Orthodox Union, May 29, 2022)

• My Visit to Walter Reed Army Medical Center (Aish.com, May 29, 2022)

• An Appreciation of HaRav Gedalia Dov Schwartz, zt”l (The Seforim Blog, December 24, 2020)

• Two Encounters With HaRav Dovid Feinstein, zt”l (Cross-Currents, November 12, 2020)

• Davening With Conflicting Emotions and Sefer Ezra: On the Return to Minyan (Orthodox Union, June 11, 2020)

• Young Israel of Memphis and Local Firefighters: A Thanksgiving Tradition (Orthodox Union, November 25, 2019)

• Singing the Hadassim Blues in Memphis (Orthodox Union, October 10, 2019)

• How a Hurricane Relief Mission Prepared Me for Chanukah (Aish.com, December 2, 2018)

• Enhance Your Shul with an Aravos Garden (Orthodox Union, October 9, 2018)

• The Rabbi Schertz I Knew (Baltimore Jewish Life, June 25, 2018)

• Power Saws and Pesach Preparations (OU Life, March 23, 2018)

• Keser vs. Kesher: What's In A Name? (The Seforim Blog, February 10, 2016)

• What Does The Duchan Have To Do With Birkas Kohanim? (Torah Musings, June 1, 2015)

• Scrolling Down the Pages of Jewish History (Torah Musings, April 27, 2015)

• What the ASA's Boycott Taught (Reminded) Me (Cross-Currents, February 19, 2014)

• Peddler's Grave - Was Jost Jewish? (Torah Musings, May 8, 2013)

Newspaper Articles:

 

• Turning the Page: Why a Shul Rabbi Authored a Jewish Children’s Book (Jewish Link of New Jersey, June 1, 2023)

• Click Here for page 1 and Here for page 2 of Hamodia's article on Memphis' Orthodox Jewish community (Hamodia, April 6, 2022)

• In Appreciation of the Unforgettable Rabbi Calman Fishman, zt"l (Yated Ne'eman, September 11, 2020)

• Remembering Rabbi Raphael Wachsman, zt"l (Yated Ne'eman, August 10, 2018)

• Gap Year Advice From Rav Ovadia Yosef, zt"l (Jewish Link of New Jersey, December 7, 2017)

• Remembering Rabbi Avrohom Powers, z"l  (Yated Ne'eman, August 5, 2016)

• Rejoicing – Despite An Empty Seat (The Jewish Press, October 2, 2015)

• In Appreciation Of Our Chazzan: Cantor Seymour Rockoff, z”l (The Jewish Press, July 24, 2015)

• When Unity Reigned In A Diverse Orthodox Community (The Jewish Press, March 6, 2013)

• My New Year’s Resolution – With Strings Attached (The Jewish Press, August 29, 2012)

• Where Did You Travel On Rosh Hashanah? (The Jewish Press, November 2, 2011)

• Shul, Faith, And Lollipops: Childhood Memories of My Family’s Rabbi (The Jewish Press, March 3, 2010)

• New Year’s Resolutions In September (The Jewish Press, September 23, 2009)

• My Pesach Stint In Federal Prison (The Jewish Press, April 14, 2009)