Daṿid Ben Yosef

Daṿid Ben Yosef was born in 1933 in Mea Shearim

David Ben Yosef was born David Spitzer in 1933 in the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was a small child, and he lived with his grandparents in Shaarei Hesed. After his father remarried, he moved to live with him in Moshav Avihayil.

He studied at the Etz Chaim Talmud Torah and at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva in Kfar HaRoeh. He changed his family name to Ben Yosef, inspired by the story of Shlomo Ben-Yosef that he heard in his youth movement.

In the IDF he served in a Bnei Akiva Nahal group at Kibbutz Saad, where he married his first wife. In the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War he served as a combat medic. After he survived an attack by an Egyptian tank, Rabbi Haim Drukman encouraged him to work in education.

He taught at Yeshivat Nehalim, Midrashiyat Noam and a high school yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion, and left or was dismissed over his educational views and his interest in yoga and meditation. He then worked in several jobs and began writing. His first book grew out of letters with the actress Batya Lancet, became a bestseller and was translated into 4 languages.

In later books he developed a theory of natural healing of cancer. He was married 4 times and had 5 children, and he moved between many places of residence. He died of cancer on September 17, 2017.