Avichai Rontzki

Avichai Rontzki was born in 1951 in Haifa

Avichai Rontzki was born in Haifa in 1951 to a secular Jewish family. He studied at the Hebrew Reali School in Haifa.

He joined the army in 1969 and started in Shayetet 13, then moved to the Paratroopers. He served as a platoon leader and deputy company commander in Battalion 890, and later commanded a company in Sayeret Shaked in the Yom Kippur War. During his service he and his wife Ronit became religious.

After the army he studied at Machon Meir and Mercaz HaRav and worked with street youth in Jerusalem. In 1980 he helped found the yeshiva in Elon Moreh, and in 1984 he was among the founders of Itamar, where he later headed a yeshiva. He wrote a four-volume guide on military religious law and rose in the reserves to chief of staff of the Samaria Brigade.

In 2006 he became Chief Military Rabbi with the rank of brigadier general, replacing Rabbi Israel Weiss. He expanded the rabbinate's Jewish Awareness activity and its presence in the field, including during Operation Cast Lead. Some of his steps and statements, including material handed to soldiers and his views on women in combat, drew criticism.

In December 2014 he said he expected to run in the Jewish Home primaries. He died of colorectal cancer in 2018, leaving his wife, 6 children and grandchildren.