Shlomo Goren

Shlomo Goren was born in 1917 in Zambrów

Shlomo Goren was born in 1918 in Zambrów, Poland, to an Orthodox family. In 1925 the family moved to the Land of Israel and helped found Kfar Hasidim near Haifa, where he grew up.

He studied at the Etz Chaim Yeshiva in Jerusalem and entered the Hebron Yeshiva at 12. At 17 he received rabbinic ordination and published his first book. From 1940 to 1944 he studied philosophy, mathematics and classics at the Hebrew University.

He joined the Haganah and fought in the 1948 war. In 1948 he became the first head of the IDF Military Rabbinate and built its framework for kosher food and prayer. He also wrote a prayer book for soldiers of different Jewish traditions.

In 1967 he led the first Jewish prayer at the Western Wall since 1948. He later served as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv-Jaffa and in 1972 was elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. His rulings, such as the Langer case and his views on the Temple Mount, drew debate.

After leaving the Chief Rabbinate in 1983, he headed a yeshiva he founded in Jerusalem near the Western Wall. He died in 1994.