Yuval Cherlow (; born 1957) is a

Modern Orthodox Modern may refer to: History *Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Philosophy ...

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

and

posek In Jewish law, a ''posek'' ( , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the application of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah, in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are incon ...

. He is

Rosh Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and th ...

of Yeshivat Hesder Amit Orot Shaul in Tel Aviv,

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 ...

. Cherlow was one of the founders of Tzohar, an organization of

religious Zionist 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 fi ...

Orthodox rabbis in Israel.

Biography

Yuval Cherlow was born in

Herzliya Herzliya ( ; , / ) is an affluent List of Israeli cities, city in the Israeli coastal plain, central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it had a populatio ...

, Israel. His parents were American-Jewish immigrants who moved to Israel in 1949. He was educated in

Yeshivat Har Etzion Yeshivat Har Etzion (YHE; ), commonly known in English as "Gush" and in Hebrew as "Yeshivat HaGush", is a Hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, an Israeli settlement in the West Bank. It is considered one of the leading institutions of advanced T ...

. As part of his

Hesder Hesder ( "arrangement"; also Yeshivat Hesder ) is an Israeli yeshiva program which combines advanced Talmudic studies with military service in the Israel Defense Forces, usually within a Religious Zionist framework. The program allows Orthodox J ...

studies, he served as an

armor Armour (Commonwealth English) or armor (American English; see American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, spelling differences) is a covering used to protect an object, individual, or vehicle from physical injury or damage, e ...

officer in the IDF. In the reserves he was a company commander in the armoured corps. He lives in

Efrat Efrat (Hebrew: אפרת) is a name with Hebrew origins that can also refer to: * Efrat (given name), Israeli given name * Efrat (surname), Israeli surname *Efrat (Israeli settlement) Efrat (), or previously officially Efrata (), is an Israeli s ...

with his wife, who is a lecturer in the department of

Jewish philosophy Jewish philosophy () includes all philosophy carried out by Jews or in relation to the religion of Judaism. Until the modern ''Haskalah'' (Jewish Enlightenment) and Jewish emancipation, Jewish philosophy was preoccupied with attempts to reconc ...

Bar Ilan University Bar-Ilan University (BIU, , ''Universitat Bar-Ilan'') is a public research university in the Tel Aviv District city of Ramat Gan, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic university institution. It has 20,000 ...

Rabbinic career

Cherlow's rabbinic career began in

Kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Tirat Zvi, where he served as a rabbi and teacher. Later he served as a rabbi in Yeshivat HaGolan in Hispin, in the southern

Golan Heights The Golan Heights, or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in t ...

. After the Rabin assassination, he helped found Tzohar, whose aim was to lessen the tensions between religious and non-religious communities. In 1998 he founded a Yeshivat Hesder in Petach Tikva, later to become Yeshivat Hesder Amit Orot Shaul in Kfar Batya, Raanana. He justified his decision to start a new yeshiva in the central area of Israel by saying that it is the place where the most important debates about the identity of the country take place. Since 2001 Cherlow has answered more than 30,000 questions about

Halakha ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also Romanization of Hebrew, transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Judaism, Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Torah, Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is ...

and other issues related to

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

via the Moreshet website. He published two books based on his internet responsa. He has also published books that deal with Bible commentary as well as the writings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Kook. Cherlow is a member of the ethics committee of the Israeli Ministry of Health and the committee which allocates the budget for new drugs. He is active in the BeMaagalei Tzedek ("Circles of Justice") movement. In 2011, he took part in the Israeli social justice protests.

Views and opinions

Cherlow has voiced empathy for the difficulties faced by religious

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" exc ...

people, and has called for the Orthodox community to treat them with compassion. However, he still maintains that homosexual relationships are prohibited by

. Cherlow has voiced liberal positions on some issues, such as allowing the use of

artificial insemination Artificial insemination is the deliberate introduction of sperm into a female's cervix or uterine cavity for the purpose of achieving a pregnancy through in vivo fertilization by means other than sexual intercourse. It is a fertility treatment ...

by unmarried women in certain circumstances and supporting coed activities in

Bnei Akiva Bnei Akiva (, , "Children of Akiva") is the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 42 countries. It was first established in Mandatory Palestine in 1929, advocating the values of Torah and labor. Bne ...

. His view on Jewish marriage in Israel is that all Jews should be married according to Halakha, but if the Chief Rabbinate refuses to marry a couple, there should be an alternate method of being recognized as a couple according to secular law. He is opposed to civil disobedience, an issue that rose to the fore during Israel's unilateral disengagement from Gaza and evacuation of Israeli settlements in the region. In 2012, Cherlow called on the State of Israel to recognise non-Orthodox streams of Judaism and Reform conversions. In response, Tzohar distanced itself from his remarks.Prominent Orthodox rabbi calls on Israel to recognize Reform Judaism
''Haaretz'', (December 11, 2012) Yizhar Hess of the Masorti Movement in Israel has suggested that Cherlow does not represent the mainstream of Zionist Orthodoxy in Israel, and Rabbi Yehoshua Shapira described Cherlow as a "neo-Reform rabbi in the Orthodox sector." Cherlow is also interested in

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 ...

, and currently sits on the Board of World Religious Leaders for the

Elijah Interfaith Institute Elijah Interfaith Institute is a nonprofit, international, UNESCO-sponsored interfaith organization founded by Alon Goshen-Gottstein in 1997. The organization is headquartered in Jerusalem, with offices and representatives in different cou ...

. Rabbi Cherlow deals mainly with ethical issues. He writes articles and tweets about ethics in Israel. In 2015, he established the ethics department at Tzohar. His book "BeTzalmo" (In His Image), published in 2015 by Maggid Press, deals with the religious meanings of God's image in people. In March 2018 he garnered attention for stating that genetically cloned pig or any other animal would be

Kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...

References

External links

Tzohar

Rabbi Cherlow's amazing journey outside the Israeli Orthodox ghetto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cherlo, Yuval Religious Zionist rosh yeshivas Israeli Orthodox rabbis 20th-century Israeli rabbis 21st-century Israeli rabbis Living people Israeli settlers 1957 births Israeli people of American-Jewish descent People from Herzliya Modern Orthodox poskim Yeshivat Har Etzion alumni