Yeshivat Otniel is a hesder yeshiva located in Otniel, an Israeli settlement. It is co-headed by the Rabbis Benni Kalmanzon and Re'em Ha'Cohen, who also serves as the settlement's rabbi.
It began in 1987 as a kollel run by Rabbis Ami Ulami (killed by terrorists in 1994) and Kalmanzon. Over the next few years, it grew to be a full hesder yeshiva. Rabbi Re'em Ha'Cohen joined the yeshiva in 1993. It adheres to a Religious Zionism ("Dati Leumi") philosophy, with a strong emphasis on Hasidic thought and an encouragement of artistic expression.
On December 27, 2002, two Islamic Jihad terrorists infiltrated the yeshiva's dining room and killed four of the yeshiva's students.
On January 17, 2016, a Palestinian Terrorist infiltrated the settlement and stabbed Dafne Meir, a woman living in the settlement, to death in her home leaving her six children behind.
Today, Yeshivat Otniel is one of the largest hesder yeshivas, with roughly 350 students.
Rabbi Dr. Yakov Nagen - Author of multiple works on philosophy and Talmud, an interfaith activist, and the Director of the Blickle Institute for Interfaith Dialogue and the Beit Midrash for Judaism and Humanity.
Amichai Chasson - Israeli poet, author, journalist, film director, screenwriter, and artistic director. [1]
Arnon Segal - Israeli journalist and Temple Mount activist. [2]
Naftali Abramson - Jewish folk-rock musician [3] and mental health therapist. [4]
Ofer Hadad - Israeli journalist
Yehuda Glick - Member of the 20th Knesset on behalf of the Likud Party.
Religious Zionism is a religious denomination 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 (Hardal) 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.
Yeshivat HaKotel is a religious Zionist Hesder yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem, opposite the Temple Mount and overlooking the Kotel, hence its name. Most of the students are in the Israeli Hesder program which combines at least fifteen months of army service with several years of Yeshiva study.
Yeshivat Torat Yosef - Hamivtar was 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 Hesder Petah Tikva is a Hesder Yeshiva located in Petah Tikva, Israel. Established in 1998, it currently has approximately 200 students, of whom 25% are actively serving in the IDF.
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 2022, it had a population of 1,041.
Yeshivat Har Etzion, commonly known in English as "Gush" and in Hebrew as "Yeshivat HaGush", is a hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, 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, Christians and Muslims, 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 Birkat Moshe is a hesder yeshiva located in the Mitzpeh Nevo neighborhood of the Israeli city, Ma'ale Adumim. It was founded in 1977 by Haim Sabato and Yitzchak Sheilat, then two young rabbis from Yeshivat HaKotel, in Jerusalem.
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.
AMIT is an American Jewish volunteer organization providing Jewish values–based education to 40,000 children in Israel. AMIT operates 87 schools across 29 cities.
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 settlement Har Bracha, and author of the book series Peninei Halakha.
Yeshivat Har Bracha, is a national-religious yeshiva in Har Brakha, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank near Nablus. The yeshiva was founded in 1991 by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed.
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.
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. Since 2015, Chasson has served as the artistic director and chief curator at the Beit Avi Chai cultural museum in Jerusalem.