Gilad Kariv

Gilad Kariv was born in 1973 in Tel Aviv

Kariv was born in Tel Aviv in 1973 to a secular family and grew up there. In high school he joined the Beit Daniel congregation, a Reform center in the city. After school he did a service year in the Scouts, helping form educational Nahal groups.

He served 5 years in Unit 8200 and finished officers training with honors. He then studied law and Jewish thought at the Hebrew University, graduating in 2001. He earned a master's in Jewish studies at Hebrew Union College in 2003, was ordained a Reform rabbi that year, became a lawyer in 2004, and earned a master's in law in 2008.

From 2003 to 2009 he directed the Israel Religious Action Center, working on religion and state issues. In 2009 he became head of the Reform Movement in Israel. He helped lead the effort for egalitarian prayer at the Western Wall, which the government recognized in 2016.

He was elected to the Knesset for the Labor Party in 2021 and chaired the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. After the 2022 election he helped merge Labor and Meretz into The Democrats. He chairs the Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs Committee and lives in Givatayim with his wife and 3 children.