Religious Zionism is an ideology that views Zionism as a fundamental component of Orthodox Judaism. Its adherents are also referred to as Dati Leumi, and in Israel, they are most commonly known by the plural form of the first part of that term: Datiim. The community is sometimes called 'Knitted kippah', the typical head covering worn by male adherents to Religious Zionism.
Mercaz HaRav is a national-religious yeshiva in Jerusalem, founded in 1924 by Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook. Located in the city's Kiryat Moshe neighborhood, it has become the most prominent religious-Zionist yeshiva in the world and synonymous with Rabbi Kook's teachings. Many Religious Zionist educators and leaders have studied at Mercaz HaRav.
Nachum Eliezer Rabinovitch, born Norman Louis Rabinovitch, was a Canadian-Israeli Religious Zionist rabbi and posek. He headed the London School of Jewish Studies from 1971 to 1982, and the hesder yeshiva Birkat Moshe in Ma'ale Adumim from 1982 until his death.
Yeshivat Torat Yosef - Hamivtar is a men's yeshiva located in Efrat in the West Bank. The Roshei Yeshiva are Rabbi Yonatan Rosensweig and Rabbi Shlomo Riskin. The institution is primarily focused on post college-aged students and is part of the Ohr Torah Stone educational institutions founded by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin and Rabbi Chaim Brovender.
Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh is a youth village and major yeshiva in southern Israel. Located near the city of Ashdod and adjacent to Kvutzat Yavne, it falls under the jurisdiction of Hevel Yavne Regional Council. In 2021, it had a population of 538.
Otniel is an Orthodox Israeli settlement in the West Bank. Located in the southern Judaean Mountains, south of Hebron, it falls under the jurisdiction of Har Hevron Regional Council. In 2021, it had a population of 994.
Yeshivat Har Etzion, commonly known in English as "Gush" and in Hebrew as "Yeshivat HaGush", is a hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, an Israeli settlement in Gush Etzion. It is considered one of the leading institutions of advanced Torah study in the world and with a student body of roughly 480, it is one of the largest hesder yeshivot in the West Bank.
Rabbi Menachem Froman was an Israeli Orthodox rabbi, and a peacemaker and negotiator with close ties to Palestinian religious leaders. A founding member of Gush Emunim, he served as the chief rabbi of Tekoa in the West Bank. He was well known for promoting and leading interfaith dialogue between Jews and Arabs, focusing on using religion as a tool and source for recognizing the humanity and dignity of all people. Together with a Palestinian journalist close to Hamas, Rabbi Froman drafted a ceasefire agreement between Israel and the Hamas government in the Gaza Strip, known as the Froman-Amayreh Agreement. The agreement was endorsed by Hamas government, but it did not receive any official response from the Israeli government.
Yeshivat Har Hamor ; is a Religious Zionist yeshiva in Har Homa, Jerusalem, founded in 1997 as an offshoot of Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav. The president of the yeshiva is Rabbi Zvi Thau, and the Rosh yeshiva - head of the yeshiva - is Rabbi Amiel Sternberg. There are around 850 students. Many of the students are married ("avrechim"), and the average student age is higher than at most Religious Zionist yeshivas.
Yuval Cherlow is a Modern Orthodox rabbi and posek. He is Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Hesder Amit Orot Shaul in Tel Aviv, Israel. Cherlow was one of the founders of Tzohar, an organization of religious Zionist Orthodox rabbis in Israel.
Rabbi Re'em HaCohen is an Israeli Religious Zionist rabbi. HaCohen is the Rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Otniel and the rabbi of the Israeli settlement of Otniel.
The Yeshivat Otniel shooting, was an attack carried out on 27 December 2002, in which two Palestinian gunmen killed four students at Yeshivat Otniel, a Hesder Yeshiva in the Israeli settlement of Otniel near Hebron in the West Bank.
Eliezer Melamed is an Israeli Orthodox Zionist rabbi and the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Bracha, rabbi of the community Har Bracha, and author of the book series Peninei Halakha.
Rabbi Shimon Gershon Rosenberg,, known by the acronym הרב שג"ר HaRav Shagar, was a Torah scholar and a religious postmodern thinker. His thought was characterized by Neo-Hasidism and postmodernism. In 1996 he established, together with Rabbi Yair Dreifuss, Yeshivat Siach Yitzchak, in Jerusalem. The yeshiva later moved to Givat HaDagan in Efrat and HaRav Shagar remained the head of the establishment until his death.
Yakov Meir Nagen is an Israeli rabbi and author. Nagen is a leader in interfaith dialogue and in particular interfaith peace initiatives between Judaism and Islam. He is the Director of the Blickle Institute for Interfaith Dialogue and the Beit Midrash for Judaism and Humanity. Nagen also teaches at Yeshivat Otniel and has written extensively about Jewish philosophy and Talmud.
Rabbi Yerachmiel Eliyahu Botchko was an Orthodox Jewish rabbi in Switzerland. He was the founder and rosh yeshiva of Yeshivas Eitz Chaim in Montreux, Switzerland.
Amichai Chasson is an Israeli poet, curator and filmmaker.
Shalom Sadik is a scholar of Jewish philosophy in the Middle Ages. He is a member of the Jewish Thought Department at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and has published articles and books on the subject. He has been honored with various academic awards in recognition of his work, which focuses on topics such as free will, the philosophy of Maimonides, the philosophy of the Jewish Apostate in Spain and natural-Law.
