Eliezer Waldman ( he, אליעזר ולדמן, 11 February 1937 – 18 December 2021) was an Israeli

Orthodox Orthodox, Orthodoxy, or Orthodoxism may refer to: Religion * Orthodoxy, adherence to accepted norms, more specifically adherence to creeds, especially within Christianity and Judaism, but also less commonly in non-Abrahamic religions like Neo-pa ...

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 ...

and politician, who served as a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...

for

Tehiya Tehiya ( he, תחיה, ''Revival''), originally known as Banai (Hebrew: , an acronym for ''Land of Israel Loyalists' Alliance'' (Hebrew: )), then Tehiya-Bnai (Hebrew: ), was an ultranationalist political party in Israel. The party existed from ...

between 1984 and 1990. Rabbi Waldman was the co-founder and President of Yeshivat Nir

Kiryat Arba :''This article is mainly about the modern Israeli settlement, not the biblical town'' Kiryat Arba or Qiryat Arba ( he, קִרְיַת־אַרְבַּע, , Town of the Four) is an urban Israeli settlement on the outskirts of Hebron, in the south ...

Biography

Waldman was born in

Petah Tikva Petah Tikva ( he, פֶּתַח תִּקְוָה, , ), also known as ''Em HaMoshavot'' (), is a city in the Central District (Israel), Central District of Israel, east of Tel Aviv. It was founded in 1878, mainly by Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews of ...

in 1937, during the Mandate period. At the age of three, his family emigrated to the United States. Waldman subsequently studied at

Yeshiva University Yeshiva University is a private Orthodox Jewish university with four campuses in New York City."About YU
on the Yeshiva Universit ...

and

Brooklyn College Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus. Being New York City's first publ ...

. In 1956, he returned to Israel through the

Bnei Akiva Bnei Akiva ( he, בְּנֵי עֲקִיבָא, , "Children of Akiva") is the largest religious Zionist youth movement in the world, with over 125,000 members in 42 countries. It was first established in Mandatory Palestine in 1929. History B ...

Hachshara program. After the one-year program, he was accepted into the

Mercaz HaRav Mercaz HaRav (officially, he, מרכז הרב - הישיבה המרכזית העולמית, "The Center of Rabbi ook- the Central Universal Yeshiva") is a national-religious yeshiva in Jerusalem, founded in 1924 by Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Abraham ...

yeshiva, where he studied with

Haim Drukman Haim Meir Drukman ( he, חיים דרוקמן), born 15 November 1932) is an Israeli Orthodox Judaism, Orthodox Rabbi and former politician. He serves as Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Or Etzion, Ohr Etzion Yeshiva, and head of the Center for Bnei Aki ...

under Rabbi

Zvi Yehuda Kook Zvi Yehuda Kook ( he, צבי יהודה קוק, 23 April 1891 – 9 March 1982) was a prominent ultranationalist Orthodox rabbi. He was the son of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hacohen Kook, the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of British Mandatory Palest ...

. He was one of the leaders of Jewish settlement in

Hebron Hebron ( ar, الخليل or ; he, חֶבְרוֹן ) is a Palestinian. city in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judaean Mountains, it lies above sea level. The second-largest city in the West Bank (after East J ...

, and one of the founders of the

settlement Settlement may refer to: *Human settlement, a community where people live *Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building * Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction *Settlement (fin ...

. He founded Yeshivat Nir in

in 1972 alongside Yehoshua Rosen and

Moshe Levinger Moshe Levinger ( he, משה לוינגר‎; 1935 – May 16, 2015) was an Israeli Religious Zionist activist and an Orthodox Rabbi who, since 1967, had been a leading figure in the movement to settle Jews in the territories occupied by Israel ...

, later becoming its president, with his son Noam as

Rosh Yeshiva Rosh yeshiva ( he, ראש ישיבה, pl. he, ראשי ישיבה, '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primar ...

. According to Menachem Livni, in 1980 Waldman volunteered to take part in a

Jewish Underground The Jewish Underground ( he, המחתרת היהודית ''HaMakhteret HaYehudit''), or in abbreviated form, simply ''makhteret'',David S. New''Holy War: The Rise of Militant Christian, Jewish and Islamic Fundamentalism,''McFarland, 2001, p. 143. w ...

plot to carry out car bomb attacks against Palestinian officials. Waldman was also among the founders of the

Gush Emunim Gush Emunim ( he, גּוּשׁ אֱמוּנִים , ''Bloc of the Faithful'') was an Israeli ultranationalist Orthodox Jewish right-wing activist movement committed to establishing Jewish settlements in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Gol ...

movement and the

party. In

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

, he was elected to the Knesset on the party's list. He was re-elected in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, but resigned from the Knesset on 31 January 1990, and was replaced by

Elyakim Haetzni Elyakim Haetzni (, 22 June 1926 – 18 September 2022) was a German-born Israeli lawyer, settlement activist and politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Tehiya from 1990 until 1992. Biography Born Georg Bombach in Kiel in 1926, Hae ...

.Knesset Members in the Twelfth Knesset
Knesset website He died on 18 December 2021, at the age of 84.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Waldman, Eliezer 1937 births 2021 deaths People from Petah Tikva Yeshiva University alumni Brooklyn College alumni Mercaz HaRav alumni Israeli activists Tehiya politicians Israeli settlers Orthodox Jews in Mandatory Palestine Members of the 11th Knesset (1984–1988) Members of the 12th Knesset (1988–1992) Israeli Orthodox rabbis