Religionדוד סמסון

David Samson

David Samson is an Orthodox rabbi in Israel who founded schools for youth at risk and yeshiva high schools for English speakers, and wrote books on the teachings of the Kooks.

born 1956Schools for youth at riskYeshiva high schools for English speakersBooks on the Kooks' teachingsFounding Arutz Sheva English broadcasting

Occupation: rabbi
Education: Mercaz HaRav Kook

David Samson was born in 1956 in Baltimore

David Samson was born in 1956 in Baltimore, Maryland. His grandfather, Rabbi Chaim Eliezer Samson, headed the yeshiva of the Talmudical Academy of Baltimore.

He moved to Israel alone at 16 and studied at the B.M.T. study hall. He then studied at Mercaz HaRav yeshiva under Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook and Rabbi Avraham Shapira.

He taught at Machon Meir, Yeshivat Nir in Kiryat Arba and Yashlatz, and served as a community rabbi in Har Nof, Jerusalem. He founded Arutz Sheva English broadcasting and hosted a radio talk show. With Tzvi Fishman he wrote several English books on the teachings of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook and Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook.

In 2003 he founded Atid, a nonprofit for youth at risk, and in 2004 Maale Erev Institutions, a group of high schools for such youth. From 2008 he opened yeshiva high schools for English speakers in Jerusalem and Kfar Saba, and a program for girls. He later founded the Lone Star Language Academy in Texas in 2014 and the King Solomon Academy in 2020.

He lives in Jerusalem and heads a yeshiva for English speakers affiliated with Yeshivat Netiv Meir. He is married to Adi, daughter of Rabbi Meir Elitov, and is a father of 7.