Mercaz HaRav
Mercaz HaRav (officially,
Name
The yeshiva's official name is The Central Universal Yeshiva, indicating its role in Rabbi Kook's vision as a central institution for the spiritual revitalization of the Jewish people. Kook, however, lacked the financial backing necessary to establish a full-fledged academic institution. The yeshiva grew out of an evening program for young scholars who gathered to hear the recently appointed
, initiated this evening program in 1920, calling it Mercaz HaRav - "the Rabbi’s Center." [6] In a public letter from 1923, Rabbi Kook explained, "In a very small measure compared to the great role of the Universal Yeshiva, I have started leading the small and limited center 'Mercaz HaRav' as the cornerstone to establish the future Universal Yeshiva."[7] The name "Mercaz HaRav" remained, despite the yeshiva's transformation over the years into one of Israel's largest and most influential yeshivot.[8]History
Mercaz HaRav was founded in 1924 by Rabbi
In 1925, Rabbi Kook invited the great European scholar Rabbi Avraham Aharon Borstein (1867–1925) to serve as rosh yeshiva. Tragically, Rabbi Borstein died suddenly at age 58, nine months after taking up his duties.[9]
Kook died in 1935, and his student, Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Charlap, succeeded him as rosh yeshiva.[10] After Charlap's death in 1951, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook's son, took up his father's position. In 1982, after Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook died, Rabbi Avraham Shapira took the position and led the institution until his death in 2007. His son Rabbi Yaakov Shapira is his successor.
In its first decades, the yeshiva had few students, and its future was in doubt. However, in the 1950s, graduates of Bnei Akiva religious schools and high-school yeshivas seeking higher religious education entered Mercaz Harav. Bnei Akiva leader
In 1997, Rabbi Zvi Thau strongly opposed the introduction of an academic framework - plans to integrate a teaching institute - into Mercaz HaRav. As a result of the disagreement, he, together with six senior lecturers and many students, left the yeshiva and established the Har Hamor yeshiva.[11]
In 2008, the yeshiva has about 500 students, including 200 students in the yeshiva's kollel (post-graduate division).[5]
Relationship to West Bank settlements
Zvi Yehuda Kook's fundamentalist teachings as the
Roshei Yeshiva
- Abraham Isaac Kook, (1924-1935)
- Avraham Aharon Borstein, (1925)
- Yaakov Moshe Charlap, (1935-1951)
- Tzvi Yehuda Kook, (1951-1982)
- Shaul Yisraeli, (1982-1995)
- Avraham Shapira, (1982-2007)
- Yaakov Shapira, (2007 to present)
Mercaz HaRav massacre
On the night of March 6, 2008, a lone shooter from Jabel Mukaber in East Jerusalem, entered the yeshiva with a gun and began firing indiscriminately, murdering eight students and wounding 15 others. The attack ended with the arrival of Yitzhak Dadon, a part-time student of the yeshiva, and David Shapira, an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, who shot and killed the shooter.
Victims
Name | Age | From | Studied at |
---|---|---|---|
Neria Cohen | 15 | Jerusalem | Yashlatz |
Segev Pniel Avihail | 15 | Neve Daniel | Yashlatz |
Avraham David Moses | 16 | Efrat | Yashlatz |
Yehonatan Yitzhak Eldar | 16 | Shilo
|
Yashlatz |
Ro'i Roth | 18 | Elkana | Mercaz Harav
|
Yohai Lipshitz | 18 | Jerusalem | Yashlatz |
Yonadav Chaim Hirshfeld | 18 | Kokhav HaShahar | Mercaz Harav
|
Doron Mahareta | 26 | Ashdod | Mercaz Harav
|
Notable alumni
The list includes a number of Knesset members, rabbis, and community leaders.[14]
- Roni Alsheikh, head of the Israel Police
- Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan
- Rabbi Bet El[5]
- Rabbi David Bar-Hayim[15][16]
- Michael Ben-Ari, Knesset member
- Yoel Bin-Nun, one of the founders of Yeshivat Har Etzion
- Ezriel Carlebach, founder of the Maariv newspaper
- Rabbi Oury Amos Cherki, lecturer and author
- Rabbi Zephaniah Drori, Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Shmona
- Rabbi Haim Druckman,[5] former Knesset member, Rosh Yeshiva of Ohr Etzion Yeshiva
- Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi of Safed
- Rabbi Tekoa
- Daniel Hershkowitz (born 1953), politician, mathematician, rabbi, and president of Bar-Ilan University
- Hillel Kook, Knesset member[17]
- Rabbi Dov Lior, former Chief Rabbi of Hebron and Kiryat Arba
- Moshe Levinger, founder of post-1967 Hebron Jewish community
- Rabbi Har Bracha
- Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, Rosh Yeshiva of Beit El yeshiva
- Rabbi Moshe-Zvi Neria, educator, former Knesset member, Rosh Yeshiva of yeshiva in Kfar Haroeh
- Hanan Porat, educator and Knesset member
- David Raziel, commander of the Irgun
- Rabbi Haim Sabato, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Birkat Moshe and author
- Rabbi David Samson, educator
- Rabbi Yitzchak Sheilat, Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshivat Birkat Moshe and Maimonides scholar
- Rabbi Zvi Thau, co-founder and president of Yeshivat Har Hamor
- Michel Warschawski (aka Mikado), left-wing activist and author; co-founder of the Alternative Information Center[18]
- Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli, rabbi of Kfar Haroeh, Rosh Yeshiva at Mercaz HaRav, President of the Eretz Hemdah Institute
References
- ^ "Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav Israeli Site". Yeshivat Mercaz Harav. Archived from the original on 2015-01-22. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
- ^ "Central Universal Yeshiva Merkaz Harav". Virtual Judaica. Archived from the original on 2018-07-24. Retrieved 2018-07-24.
- ^ "About Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav". Friends of Mercaz Harav. Archived from the original on 2015-01-22. Retrieved 2012-05-08.
- ^ "About the Yeshiva" (in Hebrew). Mercaz Harav.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Sheleg, Yair (March 7, 2008). "Mercaz Harav - the flagship of national-religious yeshivas". haaretz.
- ^ Neria, Moshe Zvi. Bisdei HaRe'iyah. p. 360.
- ^ Kook, Abraham Isaac (2020). Iggerot HaRe'iyah vol. 6. Hamachon al shem R. Zvi Yehuda Kook. p. 160.
- ISBN 965-7108-92-6.
- ^ "ןייטשרוב ןורהא םהרבא ברה גירווטמ ברה". www.mercazharav.org. Archived from the original on 30 December 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
- ISBN 9780814748060.
- ^ "והיו עיניך רואות את מוריך". Kipa.co.il. Retrieved 3 September 2018.
- ^ Lustick 1988, p. 29.
- ^ Staff, C. I. E. (2021-02-07). "Gush Emunim Established". CIE. Retrieved 2022-10-19.
- ^ The national-religious camp's flagship yeshiva Haaretz, 8 March 2008
- ^ "Pesach Kitniyot Rebels Roil Rabbis As Some Ashkenazim Follow New, Permissive Ruling". The Forward. April 2, 2009.
- ^ "Efrat rabbi tilts against Passover food restrictions for Ashkenazi Jews". Haaretz.
- ^ Staff. (24 August 2001) "Obituaries: Hillel Kook", Telegraph
- ^ On the Border: Memoir of a Militant Jew, 2005.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-876-09036-7.
- Volbershtein, Hilah (2010). Mashmia Yeshu'ah. Mercaz Shapiro, Israel: Machon Ohr Eztion. ISBN 978-9-657 27718-8.
- "Rabbi Zvi Kook dies: Israeli ultranationalist". The New York Times. 11 March 1982.
External links
- Official website (in English)
- Official website (in Hebrew)