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Yoel Lerner

Yoel Lerner was an American-born Israeli linguist, translator and political activist who was convicted of conspiring to blow up the Dome of the Rock.

1941 to 2014Founding the Gal undergroundPlot against the Dome of the RockTranslating Jewish religious books

Died: 9 July 2014
Occupation: linguist, translator, political activist
Education: Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Parktown Boys' High School

Yoel Lerner was born in 1941 in New York City

Lerner was born in 1941 in Brooklyn, New York, to a secular family, and grew up in South Africa. In 1960 he moved to Israel.

He studied at the Hebrew University and earned a BA in Hebrew and Semitic linguistics. He married Sarah, adopted a religious way of life and had 8 children.

In Kiryat Shmona he taught and in 1965 founded the HaMatmid high school, then returned to Jerusalem in 1970. He taught at several high schools and translated books and essays.

A follower and aide of Meir Kahane, he was convicted in 1973 over an arson attack on a missionary bookshop. In 1978 he was tried for founding the underground group Gal, which sought a state based on religious law, and received 3 years in prison. In 1982 he was sentenced for conspiring with 2 teenagers to blow up the Dome of the Rock.

In 1996 he was fifth on the Yamin Yisrael list, which won no Knesset seats. He promoted Jewish visits to the Temple Mount and died on July 9, 2014.