Mercaz HaRav
Mercaz HaRav (Hebrew: מרכז הרב, lit. rabbinical center) is a national-religious yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel, founded in 1924 by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. It has become synonymous with his teachings.[1]
History
Following Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook's death in 1935 his student, Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Harlap, became head of the yeshiva. [2] After his passing in 1951, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, the son of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook took up the position of Rosh Yeshiva. 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, was his successor. Today, the yeshiva has about 500 students, including 200 students in the yeshiva's kollel (post-graduate division).
In 1964, a yeshiva high school, Yeshivat Yerushalayim L’Tzeirim (Yashlatz) was opened on the campus.
Notable alumni
The list includes a number of Knesset members and community leaders.[3]
- Rabbi Shlomo Aviner[1]
- Rabbi Yaakov Ariel
- Rabbi Yoel Bin-Nun
- Azriel Carlebach, founder of the Maariv newspaper.
- Rabbi Zfania Drori
- Rabbi Haim Druckman[2]
- Rabbi Moshe Levinger founder of post-1967 Hebron Jewish community, convicted of homicide.
- Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed[3]
- Hanan Porat, Knesset member
- Michael Ben-Ari, Knesset member
- David Raziel, an Irgun commander.
- Michel Warschawski (aka Mikado) the left-wing activist and author; co-founder of the Alternative Information Center[4]
Mercaz HaRav massacre
On the night of March 6, 2008, Alaa Abu Dhein, an Arab from Jabel Mukaber in East Jerusalem, 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, 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 Shilo
- Yonadav Haim Hirschfeld, 19, from Kokhav HaShahar
- Neria Cohen, 15, from the Old City, Jerusalem
- Segev Peniel Avihail, 15, from Neve Daniel
- Avraham David Moses, 16, from Efrat
- Roee Roth, 18, from Elkana
- Doron Mahareta, 26, from Ashdod[5][6]
References
- ^ Mercaz Harav
- ^ The Impact of the Holocaust on Jewish Theology, Steven Katz
- ^ The national-religious camp's flagship yeshivaHaaretz, 8 March 2008
- ^ On the Border: Memoir of a Militant Jew, 2005.
- ^ Mercaz Harav hit by capital's worst terror attack since April '06 Jerusalem Post, 7 March 2008
- ^ 8 die in terror attack on J'lem yeshiva Haaretz, 7 March 2008
External links