Mordechai Piron (; born Egon Pisk; 28 December 1921 – 28 May 2014) was the second chief military rabbi in the history of the

Israel Defense Forces The Israel Defense Forces (IDF; , ), alternatively referred to by the Hebrew-language acronym (), is the national military of the State of Israel. It consists of three service branches: the Israeli Ground Forces, the Israeli Air Force, and ...

(IDF), after his predecessor, Rabbi Shlomo Goren, created the position in 1948. Rabbi Piron served in the position from 1969 to 1980, with a rank of

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

. Upon his retirement from his IDF position, he relocated to

Zürich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, to serve till 1992 as rabbi of the

Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich (ICZ) Israelitische Cultusgemeinde Zürich (Jewish Community of Zürich), commonly shortened to ''ICZ'', is a united Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Judaism, Jewish Jewish community, community, located in the city of Zürich, in the canton of Canton of Zur ...

, the biggest Jewish congregation in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. Rabbi Piron has published several books on Jewish philosophy and theology and was the head of the '' Sapir Center for Jewish Education and Culture'' in Jerusalem. He was an advocate of

interfaith dialogue Interfaith dialogue, also known as interreligious dialogue, refers to cooperative, constructive, and positive interaction between people of different religion, religious traditions (i.e. "faiths") and/or spirituality, spiritual or humanism, hum ...

among world religions, chaired '' The Israel Jewish Council for Interreligious Relations (IJCIR)'', and sat on the board of world religious leaders for '' The Elijah Interfaith Institute''.

Life and military career

Born in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, Austria, Piron was the only child of Viennese religious Jewish parents of Eastern European origins. He grew up in the

Leopoldstadt Leopoldstadt (; ; "Leopold-Town") is the 2nd municipal district of Vienna () in Austria. there are 103,233 inhabitants over . It is situated in the heart of the city and, together with Brigittenau (20th district), forms a large island surrou ...

, and first went to a religious Jewish school and later to the Sperlgymnasium. He left Vienna for Palestine on 28 October 1938 with the

Youth Aliyah Youth Aliyah (Hebrew: עלית הנוער, ''Aliyat Hano'ar'', German: Jugend-Alijah, Youth Immigration) is a Jewish organization that rescued thousands of Jewish children from the Nazis during the Third Reich. Youth Aliyah arranged for their r ...

and joined its agricultural school

Mikveh Yisrael Mikveh Israel () is a youth village and boarding school in the Tel Aviv District of central Israel, established in 1870. It was the first Jewish agricultural school in what is now Israel and indeed the first modern Jewish settlement in Palestine ...

. After a year and a half, he enrolled in

Yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

Mercaz HaRav Kook Mercaz HaRav (officially, , "The Center of Rabbi ook- the Central Universal Yeshiva") 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 neighbo ...

, studying under rabbi

Zvi Yehuda Kook Zvi Yehuda Kook (, 23 April 1891 – 9 March 1982) was an ultranationalist Orthodox rabbi. He was the son of Abraham Isaac Kook, the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. Both father and son are credited with developing K ...

. In 1946 he married Ahuva Gardi and settled in Jerusalem. In 1952 he was

ordained Ordination is the process by which individuals are Consecration in Christianity, consecrated, that is, set apart and elevated from the laity class to the clergy, who are thus then authorized (usually by the religious denomination, denominationa ...

as a rabbi. Piron served in the IDF since 1948, becoming second-in-command to chief military rabbi Shlomo Goren and succeeding him in 1969. He died in Jerusalem on 28 May 2014.

Controversy

Rabbi Piron officiated at the wedding of Chanoch Langer. The disputed legitimacy of this wedding was settled in 1972 with "The Brother and Sister verdict" of Rabbi Goren as chief rabbi of

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

, a years-long case that made front-page headlines in

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piron, Mordechai 1921 births 2014 deaths Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to Mandatory Palestine Israel Defense Forces rabbis Israeli military personnel of the 1948 Arab–Israeli War Israeli military chaplains Israeli Orthodox rabbis Mercaz HaRav alumni Burials at Har HaMenuchot Yeshivat Kfar HaRoeh alumni