David Stav

David Stav was born in 1960 in Jerusalem

Stav was born in Jerusalem on 13 May 1960. His father, Shmuel Dov Stav, was a librarian at the Yeshurun synagogue. His mother, Idel (Hadassa), was the daughter of Rabbi Gedaliah Moshe Goldman, the Rebbe of Zvhil.

He studied at Yeshivat Bnei Akiva Nativ Meir and then at Mercaz HaRav Yeshiva under Rabbi Avraham Shapira, who ordained him. He qualified as a religious judge at the kollel in Psagot. He joined the IDF through the Hesder Mercaz program and served 8 months in the Armored Corps.

In 1986 he began teaching at the Or Etzion Yeshiva and became rabbi of the moshav Bnei Darom. From 1992 to 1994 he was a community rabbi and yeshiva dean in Antwerp, Belgium. In 1998 he co-founded the Orot Shaul hesder yeshiva in Petah Tikva, and in this period he became rabbi of Shoham.

After the Rabin assassination he founded Tzohar with other rabbis, and he has chaired it since 2009. He ran for the Chief Rabbinate Council in 2008 and for Chief Rabbi of Israel in 2013, and was not elected either time. From 2015 he served as co-chair of Ohr Torah Stone alongside Rabbi Shlomo Riskin.

He supports prenuptial agreements to prevent get refusal and calls for opening kashrut supervision to competition. He is married to Aviva and has 9 children.