Nahum Rakover

Nahum Rakover was born in 1932 in Jerusalem

Nahum Rakover was born in Jerusalem on 13 November 1932 to Rabbi Haim Rakover and Hana Malka. In 1947 he began studying at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva in Kfar HaRoeh. He later studied in Jerusalem at Mercaz HaRav, where he followed Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, and he was ordained as a rabbi in 1953.

He studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem from 1952 to 1957 and became a lawyer in 1959. In 1968 he received a doctorate in law there for a study of agency in Jewish law.

From 1964 he taught at the university and advised the attorney general on Jewish law. He was a visiting professor in the United States and taught at Tel Aviv University, and in 1981 he became an associate professor at Bar-Ilan University. In 1982 he was appointed deputy attorney general for Jewish law.

Rakover worked to bring Jewish law into Israeli legislation, including the Foundations of Law Act. He wrote many books and articles and heads the Jewish Legal Heritage Society. He received the Israel Prize in 2002 and the Yakir Yerushalayim award in 2010.