Amnon Yitzhak ( he, אַמְנוֹן יִצְחָק; born 8 November 1953) is a Haredi Israeli

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...

. He is best known for his involvement in

Orthodox Judaism outreach Orthodox Jewish outreach, often referred to as ''Kiruv'' or ''Qiruv'' ( he, קירוב "bringing close"), is the collective work or movement of Orthodox Judaism that reaches out to non-observant Jews to encourage belief in God and life accord ...

(''kiruv'') among Israel's

Sephardi Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

and

Mizrahi ''Mizrachi'' or ''Mizrahi'' ( he, מזרחי) has two meanings. In the literal Hebrew meaning ''Eastern'', it may refer to: *Mizrahi Jews, Jews from the Middle East * Mizrahi (surname), a Sephardic surname, given to Jews who got to the Iberian P ...

populations. He and Rabbi Reuven Elbaz are considered the leaders of the Sephardi baal teshuva movement in Israel. He is involved in activities centered on helping Jews to become more religious or observant through public speaking in Israel and around the world, and his 'Shofar' organization, which distributes his lectures in various media and on the internet.

Biography

Amnon Yitzhak was born to Yahya Zechariah Yitzchak and Rumia Yitzchak in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

to a Yemenite Jewish family. He was brought up in a non-religious home, and became religious at the age of 24, after stumbling across the

sefer Sefer may refer to: * Sefer (Hebrew), a term for a book People with the surname * Franjo Šefer (born 1905), Yugoslav tennis player * Bela Šefer, Yugoslav footballer playing in 1924 People with the forename * Sefer Reis, Turkish privateer and Ot ...

Kitzur Shulchan Aruch, that he received for his Bar Mitzvah. In 1986, he established the

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

'Shofar' for promoting the "return to religion" among the Jewish Israeli population. His lectures and other activities have made Yitzhak a prominent Israeli rabbi since the early 1990s. Through 'Shofar', Yitzhak has launched two widely distributed weekly newspapers, ''Arba Kanfot'' and ''Shofar News'' geared to the Haredi public and general public respectively. They ceased publication in 2008.

Views on secular Zionism

Yitzhak has also addressed the issue of the secular Zionist leadership, and has released, for example, a video titled "

Herzl Herzl is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name: *Herzl Berger *Herzl Bodinger *Herzl Rosenblum *Herzl Yankl Tsam Surname: *Theodor Herzl See also *Mount Herzl *''Herzl (play) ''Herzl'' is a 1976 play w ...

and

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...

", which presents a critical view of both. Yitzhak has said, referring to Theodor Herzl, "There have been two great criminals in the history of the Jewish people:

Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...

and Herzl. Hitler wanted to destroy the body of the Jewish nation. Herzl wanted to kill the soul, which is far more important than the body." In a

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

titled "In the Shadow of Democracy", he strongly criticizes the State of Israel and the leadership for their attitude towards the Mizrahi-traditional and Haredi Jewish public, especially during the period of

the Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...

. According to ,

Ynet Ynet (stylized as ynet) is one of the major Israeli news and general-content websites, and is the online outlet for the '' Yedioth Ahronot'' newspaper. However, most of Ynet's content is original work, published exclusively on the website and wri ...

correspondent on Jewish Religious Affairs, Yitzhak "is considered to have a clear

anti-Zionist Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine ...

position, similar to that of the

Satmar Satmar (Yiddish: סאַטמאַר, Hebrew: סאטמר) is a Hasidic group founded in 1905 by Grand Rebbe Joel Teitelbaum, in the city of Szatmárnémeti, Hungary (now Satu Mare in Romania). The group is an offshoot of the Sighet Hasidic dynast ...

Hasidim. Like them, he boycotts the Knesset elections. This view is extremely rare among the Haredi-

public, and even rarer among Mizrahi newly-observant Jews - Amnon Yitzhak's primary target audience." Nonetheless, he had announced his guiding and leadership (the rabbi himself was outside the political list and was not running himself to the 19th Knesset) of the Israeli political party Koah Lehashpi'a for the 2013 Knesset elections in late November 2012. His party did not pass the election threshold, and therefore did not enter to the 19th Knesset. The party received 28,000 votes.

Views on women

In 2013, Yitzhak asserted that women should not drive cars, claiming "It is immodest for a woman to drive".

References

External links

Shofar organizationShofar newsTear Gas and Massive Brawl at Amnon Yitzchak’s Lecture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yitzhak, Amnon 1954 births Living people Sephardic Haredi rabbis in Israel Yemenite Orthodox rabbis Orthodox Jewish outreach Baalei teshuva 20th-century Israeli rabbis 21st-century Israeli rabbis Anti-Zionist Haredi rabbis