David Lau

David Lau was born in 1966 in Tel Aviv

David Baruch Lau was born in Tel Aviv on 13 January 1966. His father is Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, later Chief Rabbi of Israel, and his mother Chaya Ita is the daughter of Yitzchak Yedidya Frankel, rabbi of Tel Aviv. He belonged to the Ezra youth movement.

He studied at Yeshivat HaYishuv HeHadash, Beit Matityahu Yeshiva and Ponevezh Yeshiva. In 1993 he was disqualified from a rabbinic ordination exam after the examiner claimed he brought in answers, which he denied. He passed the exam in 1994.

He served in the IDF in the Military Rabbinate as a chaplain in the Intelligence Corps.

He was the first rabbi of Shoham and later the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Modi'in. He answered halakhic questions online and hosted radio and television programs. In 2013 he was elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, and as head of the Rabbinical Supreme Court he worked to shorten divorce cases.

His term ended in 2024. He then founded the Lau Center for mediation, Torah study and family support. In 2025 he published the book Tears of Faith about the Iron Swords War.