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Yuval Cherlow

Yuval Cherlow is an Israeli Modern Orthodox rabbi, a head of the Orot Shaul hesder yeshiva and one of the founders of the Tzohar rabbis' organization.

born 1957Co-founding the Tzohar rabbis' organizationHeading the Orot Shaul yeshivaOnline religious responsaWork on Jewish and medical ethics

Born: 24 June 1957, Herzliya
Occupation: rabbi, rosh yeshiva, researcher

Yuval Cherlow was born in 1957 in Herzliya

Yuval Cherlow was born in 1957 in Herzliya. His parents were Jewish immigrants from the United States who came to Israel in 1949.

He studied at the Netiv Meir high school yeshiva and then at Yeshivat Har Etzion. As part of the hesder program he served as an armor officer in the IDF. He was ordained as a rabbi by Rabbi Avraham Shapira.

He began as a rabbi and teacher at Kibbutz Tirat Zvi and the surrounding area. In 1985 he moved to the Golan Heights to teach at Yeshivat HaGolan in Hispin. After the Rabin assassination he helped found Tzohar, which works to bridge religious and secular Israelis.

In 1998 he founded the Orot Shaul hesder yeshiva in Petah Tikva, which later moved to Raanana and then Tel Aviv. Since 2001 he has answered tens of thousands of religious questions online and published several books of these answers. He serves on Ministry of Health committees and founded the ethics department at Tzohar in 2015.

His public positions, such as his 2012 call to recognize non-Orthodox streams of Judaism, drew criticism, and Tzohar distanced itself from those remarks. He lives in Efrat with his wife, a lecturer in Jewish philosophy at Bar-Ilan University.

Milestones in Yuval Cherlow's life

1957
Born in Herzliya.
1985
Moved to the Golan Heights to teach at Yeshivat HaGolan.
1996
Published his first book, which won an Education Ministry prize.
1998
Founded the Orot Shaul hesder yeshiva in Petah Tikva.
2001
Began answering religious questions online.
2006
Was a candidate for Chief Military Rabbi.
2011
Took part in the Israeli social justice protests.
2012
Called on Israel to recognize non-Orthodox streams of Judaism.
2015
Established the ethics department at Tzohar.

Yuval Cherlow served in the military

He served as an armor officer in the IDF, reaching the rank of major as commander of an Orev unit. In the First Lebanon War he was a company commander and acting battalion commander in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub.