Our Founder & Leaders

Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaKohen Kook (September 16, 1865 - September 1, 1935), founder of the World Central Yeshiva and the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, is considered one of the fathers of Religious Zionism. Maran Harav Kook immigrated to...

Rabbi Avraham Aharon Burstein, Gaon in Torah was the head of the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva for a very short period of time, but during this period, until his passing on Kislev 19, 1925, he took a central role on the...

Rabbi Yaakov Moshe Charlap zt "l, Rabbi of the Sha'arei Chesed neighborhood in Jerusalem, was one of the central figures in the yeshiva's teaching staff and later as Rosh Yeshiva. He was connected to Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook as both...

Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda, the only son of Rabbi Kook, was one of the most prominent figures in the history of Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva. This prominence was not particularly noticeable at first, since he took a background role when his father...

Rabbi David Cohen, known to all as "HaRav Nazir (the Nazarite),” was renowned for his knowledge of Torah, Prayer and Mysticism. He was one of the greatest disciples of Rabbi Kook, who attached himself to Rabbi Kook and his teachings...

Rabbi Avraham Elkana Kahana Shapira was born on 19 Iyar 1914 in Jerusalem to his father, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Shapira, who was a member of a rooted Jerusalem family and attributed to the Gaonim and Tzaddikim generation after generation. Family...

הרב שאול ישראלי נולד בעיר סלוצק שבבלארוס, לאביו הרב בנימין איזראעליט – רב ואב בית דין של העיירה קוינדוב, בפלך מינסק, ולאמו הרבנית חוה הי"ד. למד בתלמוד תורה ובישיבה קטנה בסלוצק בהנהלתו של הרב יחזקאל אברמסקי זצ"לוראש הישיבה הרב איסר...

Early Years Rabbi Kilav was born in White Russia and studied in the Chabad yeshivot there. The many upheavals to Russian Jewry occurred while he was living there. The First World War struck the Jewish people, including Rabbi Yaakov Kilav’s...

Rabbi Shalom Natan Ra'anan, who was known to all as Rabbi Natan, the son-in-law of Maran Harav, was one of the most prominent members of the teaching staff in the yeshiva. He was a diligent learner and treated everyone around...

Rabbi Mordechai Frum, the son-in-law of Rabbi Shalom Natan Raanan, was one of the prominent figures in the leadership of the yeshiva, after Rabbi Kook’s. He was originally one of the main students of the Novardok yeshiva in Tel Aviv...