Religionרא"ם הכהן

Re'em Ha'Cohen

Re'em HaCohen is an Israeli Religious Zionist rabbi, head of Yeshivat Otniel and rabbi of the settlement of Otniel.

born 1957Heading Yeshivat OtnielRabbi of OtnielHalakhic rulings on smoking

Born: 10 March 1957, Jerusalem
Occupation: rabbi

Re'em Ha'Cohen was born in 1957 in Jerusalem

Re'em HaCohen was born in Jerusalem in 1957. His father Yedaya was a principal at Yeshivat Har Etzion, and his mother Dina headed Midreshet Emuna. He grew up between the Rehavia and Sha'arei Hesed neighborhoods and often visited the home of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach.

He studied at Netiv Meir Yeshiva High School and then at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shvut under Rabbis Aharon Lichtenstein and Yehuda Amital. He was ordained as a rabbi by Rabbi Lichtenstein and Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg. He served as an officer in the Armored Corps.

He taught at Yeshivat Or Etzion and at Yeshivat Shvut Yisrael in Efrat. In 1994 he was invited to head Yeshivat Otniel, and after Rabbi Ami Ulami was murdered that year he became the rabbi of Otniel. In 2006 he was a candidate for Chief Rabbi of the IDF, and in 2020 he received the Rabbi Kook Prize.

His teaching draws on Kabbalah and the thought of Rav Kook. He has ruled that smoking is forbidden and that signing an organ donor card is a religious duty, with approval left to a rabbi chosen by the family. He and his wife Noa have 9 children.