Kalman Ber

Kalman Ber was born in 1957 in Yad Eliyahu

Kalman Meir Ber was born in 1957 in the Yad Eliyahu neighborhood of Tel Aviv. His mother, Miriam Ita, descends from Rabbi Akiva Eiger. His brother, Rabbi Moshe Avraham Ber, is the Ashkenazi rabbi of Yad Eliyahu.

He studied at the high school yeshiva in Netanya and then at the Kerem B'Yavneh Hesder Yeshiva. He served in the Nahal Brigade and later spent decades in the reserves. Rabbis Avraham Shapira and Mordechai Eliyahu ordained him as a city rabbi.

In 1986 he began teaching at Kerem B'Yavneh. He also headed a women's study program at Kibbutz Hafetz Haim and the Talpiot College, and led the Yavne Yeshiva in Antwerp. He gives Torah classes on radio and online.

In 2014 he was elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Netanya, a post empty for 26 years. There he set up the Behidur Kashrut system. In 2024 he was elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel by 77 votes to 58 and took office on 4 November 2024.

He is married to Dafna, a teacher, and they have 6 children. He lives in Netanya.