Eyal Karim

Eyal Karim was born in 1957

Karim was born on February 8, 1957, and grew up in Givatayim in a family of Karlin Hasidim. He studied at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva in Nehalim.

He was drafted in August 1975 and volunteered for the paratroopers. He served as a platoon leader and company commander in Battalion 202, and was an operations officer of the Paratroopers Brigade in the First Lebanon War. He later commanded a unit in Sayeret Matkal and led the paratroopers reconnaissance unit in 1983 and 1984.

In 1981 he studied at the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva, and from 1985 he studied at Ateret Yerushalayim, where he received rabbinic ordination. He taught at the yeshiva's pre-military academy from 1995 to 1999 and then headed it until 2004.

He returned to the IDF in 2006 at the request of Chief Rabbi Avichai Rontzki and later headed the Halacha branch and then a department of the Military Rabbinate. His 2016 nomination as Chief Rabbi drew criticism over earlier online answers on wartime rape, women's service and homosexuality. Meretz petitioned the Supreme Court, which suspended the appointment, and the petition was withdrawn after he denied ever permitting rape and clarified his views.

He took office in December 2016, and his term was extended in 2021, 2023 and 2024. He is married with six children and lives in Jerusalem.