Jacob Joseph (Hebrew: יעקב יוסף 1840 –July 28, 1902) served as chief rabbi of New York City's Association of American Orthodox Hebrew Congregations, a federation of Eastern European Jewish synagogues. Born in Krozhe, a province of Kovno, he studied in the under Rabbi Yisrael Salanter and in the Volozhin yeshiva under the Netziv. In Volozhin, he was known as "Rav Yaakov Charif" (Rabbi Jacob Sharp) because of his sharp mind. RJJ, the Rabbi Jacob Joseph School is named after him, and a playground is named after and honors the memory of a great-grandson of Rabbi Jacob Joseph who carried his name.