Yitzchak Sheilat

Yitzchak Sheilat was born in 1946 in Jerusalem

Sheilat was born Yitzchak Grinshpan in Jerusalem in 1946. His father, Yehuda, was a teacher. He was active in the religious scouts and in Bnei Akiva.

From 1960 he studied at Mercaz HaRav, Kerem B'Yavneh and Yeshivat HaKotel. At Mercaz HaRav he learned from Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda Kook and Rabbi David Cohen, and he also studied with Rabbi Gedaliah Nadel. He earned a master's degree in natural sciences at the Hebrew University.

He served in the IDF in the Nahal. In 1977 he founded Yeshivat Birkat Moshe with Rabbi Haim Sabato. Following Maimonides, he refused pay for teaching Torah and worked as the yeshiva's librarian instead.

He published an annotated edition of the letters of Maimonides in 1988 and a new translation of the Kuzari in 2010. He was the first editor of the journal Tzohar. His book of Rabbi Nadel's teachings was banned by Haredi leaders because it accepted the theory of evolution.

In 2016 he became head of the yeshiva. He is married to Yehudit, who led the Takana forum, and they have 9 children.