Mercaz haRav
Encyclopedia
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
in Jerusalem, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, founded in 1924 by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook
Abraham Isaac Kook
Abraham Isaac Kook was the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the British Mandate for Palestine, the founder of the Religious Zionist Yeshiva Merkaz HaRav, Jewish thinker, Halachist, Kabbalist and a renowned Torah scholar...
. It has become synonymous with his teachings.
It is the most prominent yeshiva in the religious Zionist
Religious Zionism
Religious Zionism is an ideology that combines Zionism and Jewish religious faith...
world. It has trained the movement's leading rabbis as well as many yeshiva heads, city rabbis, and teachers in religious colleges and high schools. The school was central in shaping the evolution of religious Zionism.
Founded in Jerusalem's Kiryat Moshe
Kiryat Moshe
Kiryat Moshe is a neighborhood in western Jerusalem, Israel named for the British Jewish philanthropist Moses Montefiore. Kiryat Moshe is bordered by Givat Shaul.-History:...
neighbourhood in 1924 by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, then chief
Chief Rabbinate of Israel
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is recognized by law as the supreme halakhic and spiritual authority for the Jewish people in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two chief rabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and administrative authority to organize religious...
Ashkenazi rabbi during the British Mandate, it is seen as the first yeshiva to be Zionist in spirit. Rabbi Kook called it "the central world yeshiva," located in Jerusalem to serve as a beacon of Torah to the rest of Israel and to the diaspora. Rav Kook brought Rav Avraham Borstein to serve as the Rosh Yeshiva with him, but Rav Borstein died two years later. After Rav Kook's death in 1935, the yeshiva was named Mercaz Harav after him.
Following Rabbi Kook's death in 1935 his student, Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Harlap, became Rosh Yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva, , , is the title given to the dean of a Talmudical academy . It is made up of the Hebrew words rosh — meaning head, and yeshiva — a school of religious Jewish education...
. After his passing in 1951, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook
Zvi Yehuda Kook
Zvi Yehuda Kook was a rabbi, leader of Religious Zionism and Rosh Yeshiva of the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva...
, the son of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook took up his father's position. In 1982, after Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook died, Rabbi Avraham Shapira
Avraham Shapira
Avraham Elkanah Kahana Shapira was a prominent rabbi in the Religious Zionist world. Shapira had been the head of the Rabbinical court of Jerusalem, and both a member and the head of the Supreme Rabbinic Court. He served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1983 to 1993...
took the position and led the institution until his death in 2007. His son, Rabbi Yaakov Shapira shlit"a, was his successor.
Today, the yeshiva has about 500 students, including 200 students in the yeshiva's kollel
Kollel
A kollel is an institute for full-time, advanced study of the Talmud and rabbinic literature. Like a yeshiva, a kollel features shiurim and learning sedarim ; unlike a yeshiva, the student body of a kollel are all married men...
(post-graduate division).
In its first decades the college had few students and at times it was not clear whether it would survive. The turning point came in the '50s, when graduates of Bnei Akiva religious schools and high-school yeshivas seeking higher religious education flocked to Mercaz Harav, the only Zionist yeshiva.
The prominent Bnei Akiva headmaster and activist Rabbi Moshe Zvi Neria, a disciple of Rabbi Kook's, encouraged students to go to Mercaz Harav, which was headed from 1952 by Rabbi Abraham Kook's son, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, until his eventual death.
Notable alumni
The list includes a number of Knesset members and community leaders.- Rabbi Shlomo AvinerShlomo AvinerRabbi Shlomo Chaim Ha-Cohain Aviner is the rosh yeshiva of the Ateret Yerushalayim yeshiva in Jerusalem and the rabbi of Bet El. He is considered one of the spiritual leaders of the Religious Zionist movement.-Background:Ha-Rav Shlomo Chaim Ha-Cohain Aviner was born in 5703 in German-occupied...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/961703.html - Rabbi Yaakov ArielYaakov ArielRabbi Yaakov Ariel is the chief rabbi of the city of Ramat Gan, Israel and one of the leading rabbis of the religious Zionist movement. Ariel had served as the rosh yeshiva of the yeshiva in the abandoned Israeli settlement of Yamit in the Sinai desert until 1982 and is currently the president of...
- Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun
- Azriel CarlebachAzriel CarlebachDr. Ezriel Carlebach was a journalist and editorial writer during the period of Jewish settlement in Palestine and during the early days of the state of Israel...
, founder of the MaarivMaarivMaariv is a Hebrew language daily newspaper published in Israel. It is second in sales after Yedioth Ahronoth and third in readership after Yedioth Ahronoth and Israel HaYom. In a TGI survey comparing the last half of 2009 with the same period in 2008, Maariv saw its market share fall slightly...
newspaper. - Rabbi Zfania Drori
- Rabbi Haim Druckmanhttp://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/961703.html
- Rabbi Moshe LevingerMoshe LevingerRabbi Moshe Levinger is an Israeli Religious Zionist who since 1967 has been a leading figure in the movement to settle Jews in the territories occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War...
founder of post-1967 Hebron Jewish community. - Rabbi Zalman Baruch MelamedZalman Baruch MelamedRabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed is the rosh yeshiva of the Beit El yeshiva in Beit El, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank.On halachic grounds, he opposes the idea of either Jews or gentiles going on the Temple Mount.-Background:...
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/961703.html - Hanan PoratHanan Porat-External links:...
, Knesset member - Michael Ben-AriMichael Ben-AriMichael Ben-Ari is an Israeli politician, and a current member of the Knesset for the National Union party. He is the first outspoken disciple of Rabbi Meir Kahane to be elected to the Knesset. He has a Ph.D in Land of Israel studies.-Biography:...
, Knesset member - David RazielDavid Razielthumb|David RazielDavid Raziel was a fighter of the Jewish underground during the British mandate, and one of the founders of the Irgun.-Biography:...
, an IrgunIrgunThe Irgun , or Irgun Zevai Leumi to give it its full title , was a Zionist paramilitary group that operated in Mandate Palestine between 1931 and 1948. It was an offshoot of the earlier and larger Jewish paramilitary organization haHaganah...
commander. - Michel Warschawski (aka Mikado) the left-wing activist and author; co-founder of the Alternative Information Center
Current Staff
The current staff, in order of ages- Rabbi Yehoshua Magnes, Ram Shiur alef
- Rabbi Yair Gizbar, Ram Shiur alef
- Rabbi Avi Silvetsky, Ram Shiur alef
- Rabbi Itamar Orebach, Ram shiur bet, Rav Chashonaim
- Rabbi Pinchas Moonshine, Ram shiur bet, Dayan
- Rabbi Chaim Shteiner, Ram shiur bet
- Rabbi Avinoam Zomer, Ram shiur gimmel
- Rabbi Michael Hershkovitz, Ram shiur gimmel
- Rav Ya'akov Shapira, Ram shiur dalet, Rosh Yeshiva, and Chaver Moetzet Rabbanut Harashit
- Rav Yoram Moskovitz, Ram shiur hey and older
- Rav Chaim Katz, Ram shiur hey and older
Mercaz HaRav massacre
On the night of March 6, 2008, Alaa Abu Dhein, an Arab from Jabel MukaberJabel Mukaber
Jabel Mukaber is a predominantly Arab neighborhood in southern East Jerusalem. It is bordered by Armon HaNetziv to the west, Abu Tor and Silwan to the north and Sur Baher to the south...
in East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem
East Jerusalem or Eastern Jerusalem refer to the parts of Jerusalem captured and annexed by Jordan in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and then captured and annexed by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War...
, entered the yeshiva with a gun and began firing indiscriminately, killing eight students and wounding 15 others. Abu Dhein's bloody rampage ended with the arrival of Yitzhak Dadon, a part-time student of the yeshiva, and David Shapira, an officer in the Israel Defense Forces
Israel Defense Forces
The Israel Defense Forces , commonly known in Israel by the Hebrew acronym Tzahal , are the military forces of the State of Israel. They consist of the ground forces, air force and navy. It is the sole military wing of the Israeli security forces, and has no civilian jurisdiction within Israel...
, who shot him to death.
The victims, mostly teenagers, were identified as:
- Yohai Lifshitz, 18, from the Old City, Jerusalem
- Yonatan Yitzhak Eldar, 16, from ShiloShilo (town)Shilo is an Israeli settlement in the northern West Bank, located 28 miles north of Jerusalem on Route 60, next to the Palestinian town Turmus Ayya...
- Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, from Kokhav HaShaharKokhav HaShaharKokhav HaShahar is an Israeli settlement in the Binyamin region of northern West Bank. It is located on a mountain ridge overlooking the Jordan Valley, and is accessible via the Allon Road. Kokhav HaShahar falls under the municipal jurisdiction of the Matte Binyamin Regional Council...
- Neria Cohen, 15, from the Old City, Jerusalem
- Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, from Neve DanielNeve DanielNeve Daniel is an Israeli settlement and communal settlement located in western Gush Etzion in the southern West Bank. Located south of Jerusalem and just west of Bethlehem, it sits atop one of the highest points in the area - close to 1,000 meters above sea level, and has a view of much of the...
- Avraham David Moses, 16, from EfratEfratEfrat , or officially Efrata , is an Israeli settlement established in 1983 and a local council in the Judean Mountains of the West Bank. The international community considers Israeli settlements in the West Bank illegal under international law, but the Israeli government disputes this...
- Roee Roth, 18, from ElkanaElkanaElkana or Elqana is an Israeli settlement and local council in the north-western Samarian hills in the West Bank. Elkana is situated just to the east of the Green Line and the city of Rosh HaAyin. The Trans-Samarian Highway previously cut through the town until 2000 when the road, which now skirts...
- Doron Mahareta, 26, from Ashdod