Shai Piron

Shai Piron was born in 1965 in Kfar Vitkin

Piron was born in Kfar Vitkin and grew up in Tel Aviv and Bat Yam with secular parents. His mother named him after the writer S. Y. Agnon. He became religious during his high school years.

He studied at several yeshivas, including Merkaz HaRav and Har Etzion. He was ordained by Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu. He holds a law degree from Shaarei Mishpat and a master's degree from Bar-Ilan University.

He served as a rabbi in Ein HaNetziv and headed the Yeshurun ulpana in Petah Tikva from 1995 to 2007. In 1998 he co-founded the Orot Shaul yeshiva. He helped found Tzohar and led the Hakol L'Chinuch association.

In 2012 he joined Yesh Atid and entered the Knesset in 2013, becoming Minister of Education. In March 2015 he called for teaching the Nakba in all schools. He was re-elected in 2015 and became Deputy Speaker of the Knesset.

He resigned from the Knesset in September 2015 to teach at a college in Sderot. From 2018 he has chaired Special Olympics Israel. He lives in Oranit, is married and has 6 children.