Ten minutes after entering the Har Hamor Yeshiva library – I was outed. To get a closer look at the students' state of mind, I had arrived at the yeshiva a few days after allegations were made against Rabbi Zvi Thau. I strolled around a bit, watching students learning Gemara issues in groups, and then sat down at one of the computers to access the Yeshiva's recording database and listen to the rabbis' lectures and see if anything was mentioned regarding the accusations.
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"Hello, how can I help you?" one of the students approached me and politely inquired as to who I was. After introducing myself without mentioning being a reporter, he asked why I am downloading the rabbis' lectures onto my phone. After telling him I am interested in their lectures, he answered that "there are those who wish to use them for ill-intended purposes". I was outside several minutes later. I felt like a deer in the middle of the road, blinded by the headlights of a fast-approaching truck.
The Rabbi Thau allegations, like in previous cases concerning similar testimonies and suspicions regarding other rabbis, attract special attention because, among other reasons, the other side is completely silent. Not a single bird chirps, not a single car honks, silence. And this is no mistake. I tried speaking with many sources in the Hardal world for this article's research. Each one of them, down to the very last one, told me that they refuse to speak with me. Known rabbis, current students and graduates of the yeshiva, well-known figures, and private individuals with whom I speak or correspond on a daily basis ignored my phone calls or laconically replied that they are unwilling to speak or even correspond via SMS or WhatsApp. They would not budge even when I promised them I wouldn't ask them to discuss "problematic" issues. When I suggested an anonymous background talk, they replied: "that is even worse". The fort is under attack, and it must be defended.
However, even without the supposed testimonies against Rabbi Thau, this yeshiva is one of the most intriguing ones in the Religious Zionist community. On certain days some will say that it is perhaps the most significant one. A prominent youth movement, premilitary preparatory programs, Rabbis, and educators who learned from the teachings of the rabbis of Har Hamor teach today in Religious Zionism's best institutions. This is a closed-off, separatist yeshiva that even today despises the media and politics and refuses to cooperate in any case. This affair exposes Religious Zionism, its innards, subtleties, and differences hiding within it. The big question, to which many in Israel do not know the answer, is what the Har Hamor Yeshiva is.
The distributors of Religious Zionism
My first encounter with the Har Hamor Yeshiva took place on a very dramatic date. Back then, my brother was a student at the yeshiva, which was situated in a building on the verge of collapse in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood in Jerusalem, the second out of three buildings "Har Amor" was temporarily located in until moving to its permanent location in the Har Homa neighborhood. When his eldest son, my nephew, was born, he invited the entire family to his circumcision. However, on the night before the circumcision, on 6 March 2008, a terrorist entered the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood in the country's capital and shot and killed eight students. The circumcision took place the morning after. The shocked students danced and rejoiced minutes before attending the funerals of the eight butchered students. The joy of the mitzvah was mixed with deep sadness, and one of the students could not contain the dissonance within him. "How are we dancing and rejoicing when our friends were murdered?!" he shouted. Those next to him quickly tried to calm him down. We must not forget the mitzvah, even in the depths of darkness, and rejoice in the circumcision, against all odds.
There was a massive bang in Religious Zionism a little over a decade earlier, perhaps the biggest breaking point in the religious sector of the Torah world since the State of Israel was established. In September 1997, just before Rosh Hashana, a group of rabbis led by Rabbi Thau, who was already considered one of Religious Zionism's most prominent rabbis, decided to leave the sector's flagship yeshiva – Mercaz Harav – and open a rival yeshiva, Har Hamor.
Har Hamor is one of the Temple Mount's synonyms, and in addition, several of those who left called themselves "Hamar", a Hebrew word containing the acronym "HMR." (Hemshech Mercaz Harav – the continuation of Mercaz Harav.)
A storm broke out in the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva a few months beforehand. Rabbi Avraham Shapira, former chief rabbi of Israel and the father of the current head of the yeshiva, was the head of the yeshiva in those days. There was much controversy regarding the yeshiva's intent to establish an institute for teaching studies. "According to Rabbi Thau, an institute for training teachers that teaches educational concepts that are not of Jewish origin - is sacrilege. How can they introduce foreign elements to a yeshiva established by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook?," explains Yair Sheleg, a research associate at the Shalom Hartman Institute and a "Makor Rishon" journalist. He published the book "Hardalim" about two years ago, within the framework of the Israeli Institute for Democracy. In the book, he does an in-depth analysis of the Nationalist Haredi subsector that has been developing within Nationalist Zionism in recent decades.
Another step backward through history will clarify the depth of the drama. Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Hacohen Kook, son of the establisher of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, passed away 15 years before the separation between Mercaz Harav and Har Hamor and was succeeded by, as mentioned, Rabbi Abraham Shapira. Rabbi Zvi Thau, a rising star, had to remain in the position of rabbi-educator in the yeshiva. "You would expect him to split the yeshiva in two for not being appointed as the head of the yeshiva, yet he consented to the secondary status that was imposed on him for many years. We now learn that there may have been other reasons (one of the complainants against the rabbi claims he was forbidden from coming to the yeshiva because of his actions against her – H.G.), but he let go of his honor in any case. When was he unable to bear it anymore? When they established an institute for teaching studies. For him, it was a desecration of the sacred sources", analyzes Sheleg.
Close-knit group
At first, the new yeshiva was based in tin shacks in the Kiryat Menachem neighborhood. From there, it moved to a building in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood and then to the Carmit complex – several abandoned boarding school buildings adjacent to Ein Kerem. Finally, in 2017, it transferred to its permanent location in the Har Homa neighborhood.
Today, the yeshiva is the flagship yeshiva of what is called by the religious community "the line yeshivas" – several Religious Zionist institutes that advocate the ideological line outlined by Rabbi Thau, and advocate, among others, the state concept that attributes an inherent value of holiness to the State of Israel that is not necessarily dependent upon its leaders. In these yeshivas, Israel's Independence Day is celebrated as a holiday in every sense of the word, a concept that makes military service and martyrdom sacred. The yeshiva is led by twin brothers – Rabbi Amiel and Rabbi Mordechai Sternberg. Rabbi Thau is the yeshiva's president but does not receive a salary from it. The yeshiva has approximately 750 students. Last year, it had an income of NIS 28 million, of which 20 million came from donations and the rest from annuities and state support. 98 percent of the amount was used for operating expenses and salaries.
"The Hardalist (Haredi nationalist) approach to Jewish law is one of loyalty to it, plain and simple," explains Sheleg. The Har Hamor version has another layer to it, in which a man strives to be pure and holy, for him to possess qualities that are above and beyond those of ordinary men. Not being content with the standard requirements of Jewish law. That is why what was exposed regarding Rabbi Thau is so severe because he was always the one to never content himself with the standard requirements of Jewish law, but rather demanded himself to be holy. This is also the reason some describe the Har Hamor Yeshiva as a cult – because cults demand special purity rather than just being content with religion's normal limitations."
The position of the yeshiva and its rabbis on religious matters is extremely conservative and is sometimes similar to those of the most radical ultra-Orthodox circles. Rabbi Thau, and the entire yeshiva with him, became more and more extreme regarding this matter over the years. For example, in one of his previous pamphlets, he opposed smartphones and other phenomena associated with too much technological progress. Now, Rabbi Thau believes that Israeli society is in a transitional phase toward building a new and higher level of holiness, and if we will not know how to act correctly, the massive increase in impurity will bring this phase closer to its end. While many are returning to tradition and faith, he writes in one of his pamphlets, "Evil is doing everything in its power to wage an existential war."
Nevertheless, the yeshiva's position specifically regarding matters identified with the Right is not extreme, even though its students are well-positioned on the right side of the political map. During Israel's disengagement from Gaza, Rabbi Shapira, head of the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, explicitly called for defiance. Rabbi Thau, on the other hand, refrained from doing so, even though he finally expressed a position of "gray refusal", in which he said he does not understand a person who would agree to be summoned to vacate Jews.
Some of the most well-known religious institutes operate in the spirit of the Har Hamor Yeshiva, educating thousands of youngsters. They have thousands of graduates. Some of these institutes include the Midbara K'Eden Yeshiva in Mitzpe Ramon, the Shavei Hevron Yeshiva, the Bnei David pre-military preparatory program and high yeshiva in Eli, the Ateret Yerushalayim Yeshiva, the Maale Eliyahu Yeshiva in Tel Aviv, the Netser Matai Yeshiva in Ariel, the Maale Hever Yeshiva for teenagers, the Yatir pre-military preparatory program, Rabbi Rafi Peretz's Otzem (Atzmona) pre-military preparatory program, the Keshet Yehuda pre-military preparatory program, the Midreshet HaRova seminary, the Midreshet Shirat Hevron seminary, and others.
Graduates of some of these institutes have significant positions in the economy or are senior officers in the IDF. Many others became educators and teachers who teach at dozens of institutes all over Israel. However, this is not always well-received when it comes to the Har Hamor Yeshiva, since the yeshiva's view, according to which one needs to strive for a very high level of holiness and purity, causes friction with other movements in the religious sector, including, among others, those who identify as Hardal.
The "line yeshivas" have produced many graduates over the years who are high-ranking IDF officers and who hold senior public positions. It should be noted that not all of them necessarily share all the opinions of their respective yeshivas, but this proves how much influence this movement has on the Israeli public. Brig. Gen. David Zini, Brig. Gen. Shai Klapper, Commander of the Golani Brigade Yair Peli, Rabbi Lior Engelman, and MK Ofir Sofer, among others, were students at the Shave Hevron Yeshiva. Brig. Gen. Abi Bluth, Colonel Dvir Hever, and Colonel Yehuda Vach, among others, were students at the Bnei David pre-military preparatory program. Brig. Gen. (Res.) Ofek Buchris and Brig. Gen. Eyal Karim, among others, were students at Ateret Yerushalayim. Along with the currently-serving senior IDF officers who were also former students at these yeshivas are a number of well-known martyrs who were students as well, such as Emanuel Moreno, Eliraz Peretz, Roi Klein, and Hadar Goldin, who were all students at the Bnei David pre-military preparatory program in Eli.
The Hesder Yeshiva in Holon published a job advertisement for rabbi-educators, one of the criteria being to not be a Har Hamor Yeshiva graduate. "We have nothing against the Har Hamor Yeshiva, quite the opposite, but experience taught us that this yeshiva's graduates often do not integrate well into various yeshivas, and we do not want to take this risk."
In response to a news article published on the "Srugim" website, Aviv Zagelman, head of the Hesder Yeshiva in Holon, explained that "the Beit Midrash, today called the Har Hamor Yeshiva, has been disqualifying other yeshivas for the past 50 years. Rabbis from these yeshivas are boycotted as rabbi-educators, as rabbis in every position, and it is forbidden to cooperate with them, those who belong to these spiritual movements are ineligible to be married to, and even to learn Torah with. I studied at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva during the famous separation, and I experienced the teachings of Har Hamor in controversy." After many years of forbearance, he then explained, he decided that he refuses to continue doing so. "I drink in their Torah and feel a deep belonging to this Beit Midrash, but I am determined to protest their banning and disqualifying." We tried getting Rabbi Zagelman's take for this article, to no avail.
And then came Naftali Bennettt
For years, Har Hamor insiders refused to speak with reporters and expose themselves to the media, and the only statements that occasionally made their way outside the yeshiva were from recordings of classes. Rabbi Thau thinks that the media is the enemy and that it is forbidden to cooperate with it, and the rest of the yeshiva aligned itself with his view. In fact, for many years, it was not possible to obtain a high-quality and up-to-date picture of Rabbi Thau for article purposes, because the man was not seen in public arenas at all, unlike almost every other rabbi in religious Zionism. And then came Naftali Bennett.
When Bennett and Shaked took over the Habayit Hayehudi party, completing the incorporation of the liberal approach of Religious Zionism into the religious-nationalist party once and for all, those in the Har Amor Yeshiva realized that they must wake up. In the days of the Bennett-Lapid alliance, various processes regarding religion and state began taking shape. The Western Wall compromise was launched, demands for reform in laws of kashrut were more frequently made, and above all else – the attitude towards the LGBTQ community was completely revolutionized. At the same time, smartphones became more dominant in society, and the internet became, in their eyes, an existential threat.
The early signs are easily recognizable. In a class taught by Rabbi Thau in December 2013 and published by Netael Bandel, who then was a reporter for "Kipa" and today is a reporter for Israel Hayom, Thau called for the blockade of roads in protest of Bennett's conduct. "We need to gather communities, organize a big rally, and all the rabbis in Israel, and all the yeshiva heads in Israel, and everyone who cares about the Torah and Yiddishkeit in the country", said Thau. "We need to stand up, take a break from our reading, and block Highway 1 – and I am not kidding. This is terrible, and we remain silent. Whenever I begin thinking about this, my mind is blown, how can we sit quietly like this?
Now the conversion law is being passed, anyone can convert, any rabbi can convert someone, wherever he may be located, we do not need Israel's Chief Rabbinate, there are also Reform, "Dati Lite" (light Orthodox), Conservative and Tzohar rabbis, and all other kinds. Terrible." Then the rabbi was also asked why he does not form a political party, and he replied: "I cannot form political parties."
But as the years passed, his stance changed. In 2017, Rabbi Thau participated in an anti-Pride Parade demonstration in Jerusalem, holding a sign saying, "The Abomination Parade". Beside him was also Rabbi Yigal Levinstein, Head of the Bnei David pre-military preparatory program in Eli, who gave the "IDF turn our daughters crazy" speech in condemnation of the IDF's recruitment of religious young women.
Six years after Rabbi Thau stated he does not form political parties, the "Noam" party was established, led by Avi Maoz and under Rabbi Thau's spiritual leadership. The goal of the party, which was incorporated into the Religious Zionist Party in the last two elections, is "to repair all the damage done by the long-term infiltration of the winds of postmodernism into the State of Israel's public systems". Struggles against the LGBTQ community are part of the foundation of the Noam party, or, if you prefer – the Har Hamor party. The party has several significant power bases, but they are opposed by large parts of the religious mainstream who seek to instill religious tolerance rather than an ideal that in their opinion expresses coercion of parts of the public.
Before the Nov. 1 election, the heads of the yeshiva instructed their students to close their Gemara books, report to the ballot boxes, and convince people to vote for the Religious Zionist Party, and thus for its "Noam" faction. "This is a time of emergency," Oded Volansky, one of the yeshiva's senior rabbi-educators, said to the students. "We are approaching all of Israel, to meet face-to-face with them. We need to approach with fear and awe. With a lot of love, with a lot of humility. We are canceling the study of the redeeming Torah and are going out to the city's streets because we are at war, a great war over the nation's soul, over the spirit of the State. God willing, we will win this battle. We are canceling Torah studies, first and foremost, so that "Noam" will be in the Israeli Knesset."
"I have been non-partisan my entire life. I have never been dragged into anything like this, not even in the days of our rabbis. But something is happening here. A flame has fallen among the cedars. Reality is going crazy, and we must bring it back to its senses. This is not a personal matter, but a matter of God. God has presented us with this crossroads so that we will also rise and go out to the people and bring whomever we can to vote so that the Noam party will be in the Knesset because it is the only party that speaks the truth and who is not afraid to speak it. Because we are with God."
Sheleg believes that it is Rabbi Thau's publicity that will cause his status to decline. "The more Rabbi Thau's position becomes more radical, the less influence he will have because the mainstream is moving away from him. He had more influence in the past, but today his stances are at the peak of a high mountain that can be reached only by a chosen few. Har Hamor has the characteristics of a cult, and this is ultimately fascinating and sad. The groups that have the characteristics of a cult are always more intriguing than ordinary religious groups but are also more problematic and dangerous. At Har Hamor, they see themselves as Israel's chosen elite. The problem is that on the one hand, you are speaking in the name of all of Israel, and on the other hand, you are saying that you alone hold the keys to enter. The Klal Yisrael (the entirety of Israel) they speak of is not authentic but rather imagined – the one you would like there to be."
The soul cries out
Several days before Rosh Hashana, Rabbi Thau addressed his students at the Har Hamor Yeshiva. "Every man in Israel wants to be what he is by nature. All his sins are the foreign and instinctive side that forces him, wraps itself around him, and changes him. But this side stays within him," he said when referring to what the Rambam said.
In another lecture that he gave the students on Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook's book "El Hateshuva", he explained that "our soul constantly calls to us, and we do not listen. We listen to all sorts of people who are lenient in Jewish law, to technology, to things like these. To hear these voices, you do not need to be a distinguished Torah scholar, but rather a student whose life is the Torah. We need to purify ourselves and be cautious so that we will remember who we, the people of Israel, are. A people that know their God.
"The soul cries out. Woe to the people for insulting the Torah. We should consider this, especially during the days of repentance. This is called repenting. Being what you truly are, being real. To not be a fake. Because this is the time to act for the sake of God. And it is already time to repent. That is, to look inward. To connect the branches of life that are appearing in all our plots, enterprises, and virtues, to connect them to the source of their roots. Not to your imagined self, but to your true self, to your soul. To the soul's purity. To the beginning of its being. To the nobility of its dignity. Without any darkness of body and imaginations and amusements and external impressions. This is the light of life," added Rabbi Thau. Although there is unlikely a connection between the things the rabbi said to a small group of students and other affairs, it certainly presents them in a different light.
Despite the testimonies given until now, his students, graduates, and followers have difficulty forming an opinion on how to deal with the accusations against him. Most are silent, however, a minority share their feelings on social media. One can understand the depth of the dissonance his students and followers are in from the words of Har-Amor-associated Rabbi Netanel Elyashiv, a rabbi-educator in the Bnei David Mechina, one of the most important religious institutions in the State of Israel. Rabbi Elyashiv's bottom line is that we need to investigate the latest affair, a highly courageous act in a place where most of the ultra-Orthodox world is silent. However, it is precisely the other things he wrote that take us into the world called Har Hamor.
"I first met our teacher and rabbi, Rabbi Zvi Thau, when I was 16 years old. I entered his home with a friend to ask him a question – and immediately felt I understood what the majestic appearance of a Torah scholar meant. I knew that I had the privilege of meeting someone of a different magnitude this time." A year later, he recounts that he came to study at the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, before the separation took place, and adhered to Rabbi Thau. When he got married, Rabbi Elyahiv asked Rabbi Thau to escort him to the chuppah; when his first son was born – Rabbi Thau was the godfather, and Rabbi Elyashiv even considered naming one of his sons after him. "I do not see myself as an important student of the Rabbi, to the best of my knowledge he does not see me that way either, but I do believe that there are very few people who were in his presence and learned his teachings the number of cumulative hours I have dedicated to getting to the bottom of the essence of his teachings."
In the long post, he affirms that he would show up on Rabbi Thau's doorstep unannounced over the years, and he never saw anything suspicious. Although in recent years questions have arisen in him regarding the positions the rabbi maintained, according to him, he never found any reason to think that these questions point to a deep flaw in his personality or a dark side hidden from view. "In my estimation, there are hundreds like me, and there are thousands more who have been exposed to the Rabbi's Torah over many years, even if not with the intensity that I tried to describe here. A third circle includes thousands of learners, who were privileged to receive something from him, even if he was not the central spiritual figure of their lives.
"Therefore, I suggest that no one judge people in our situation, who adhere to Rabbi Thau and learn from his teachings. We are not naïve, we too have witnessed all the previous affairs, we too are no less anxious for our sons and daughters and the Sanctity of the Camp than the next person, we also know that sometimes, what seems beautiful and shiny on the outside may be rotten, at least partially, on the inside. But this is a different story – on the one hand, there is the magnitude of the personality we have directly experienced for so many years, and on the other hand, there are accusations more terrible than anything we have known. And, if someone who personally knows the main complainant testifies that she is unsettled and imagining things, thereby offering us a logical explanation for these accusations, then at least at first it will sound much more plausible to us than thinking that the angel we know is actually a devil," said Rabbi Elyashiv, providing a glimpse into what is going on in the minds of thousands right now.
At the moment, the vast majority of his students remain silent. Nevertheless, there are those who come to his defense. "It is a great obligation to protest the blasphemy that is the vilifying and degrading of the honor of the Torah of our teacher and rabbi, the glorious Rabbi Zvi Thau Shalita, the glory of the generation. The harm is not only to him but rather to us all – to the entire world of Torah – those who claim to seek justice and truth, who desecrate the name of God to improve their ratings", wrote Rabbi Yosef Rodriguez, head of Yeshivat Ayelet Hashachar in Eilat. "All of the Torah lovers and learners must distinguish between Israel's distinct holy people and the hyssops that grow out of the wall that call themselves rabbis, or, in the words of Rabbi Shapira of blessed memory – "reballach" (Yiddish), whose success is built primarily on their polluted internet media ratings."
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