Hanan Porat ( he, חנן פורת, 5 December 1943 – 4 October 2011) was an Israeli Orthodox

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 ...

, educator, 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, the

National Religious Party The National Religious Party ( he, מִפְלָגָה דָּתִית לְאֻומִּית, ''Miflaga Datit Leumit'', commonly known in Israel by its Hebrew acronym Mafdal, ) was a political party in Israel representing the religious Zionist move ...

, Tkuma, and the National Union between 1981 and 1984, and between 1988 and 1999.

Biography

Hanan Spitzer (later Porat) was born in Kfar Pines during the Mandate era. In 1944, his family moved to Kfar Etzion. In early 1948, during the Arab riots of 1948, Kfar Etzion was besieged, and the children were evacuated to

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

. Porat's father also moved there to arrange convoys.Gorenberg (2007), pp. 19-20 After the

Kfar Etzion massacre The Kfar Etzion massacre refers to a massacre of Jews that took place after a two-day battle in which Jewish Kibbutz residents and Haganah militia defended Kfar Etzion from a combined force of the Arab Legion and local Arab men on May 13, 1948, ...

, his family settled in Kfar Pines. Porat studied at 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 ...

yeshiva high school, Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh, and the Mercaz HaRav talmudic college, and was ordained as a

. He worked as a religious teacher at several yeshivas. He is one of the main characters featured in

Yossi Klein HaLevi Yossi Klein Halevi ( he, יוסי קליין הלוי, born 1953) is an American-born Israeli author and journalist. Biography Yossi Klein Halevi was born and raised in Borough Park, Brooklyn, New York in a Jewish family. His parents, Zoltan an ...

's ''Like Dreamers: The Story of the Israeli Paratroopers who Reunited Jerusalem and Divided A Nation.'' He served in Israel's

55th Paratroopers Brigade 55th Paratroopers Brigade, also known as "''Tip of The Spear Brigade''" ( he, עֻצְבַּת חוד החנית, ''Utzbat Hod Ha-Hanit''), is a reserve-service infantry Brigade in the Israeli Defense Forces. History The 55th Paratrooopers Brigad ...

during the

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

, and was among the troops that captured the

Temple Mount The Temple Mount ( hbo, הַר הַבַּיִת, translit=Har haBayīt, label=Hebrew, lit=Mount of the House f the Holy}), also known as al-Ḥaram al-Sharīf (Arabic: الحرم الشريف, lit. 'The Noble Sanctuary'), al-Aqsa Mosque compou ...

and conquered

East Jerusalem East Jerusalem (, ; , ) is the sector of Jerusalem that was held by Jordan during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, as opposed to the western sector of the city, West Jerusalem, which was held by Israel. Jerusalem was envisaged as a separ ...

. During this euphoric moment in Israel's history, he is quoted as saying, "We are writing the next chapter of the

Bible The Bible (from Koine Greek , , 'the books') is a collection of religious texts or scriptures that are held to be sacred in Christianity, Judaism, Samaritanism, and many other religions. The Bible is an anthologya compilation of texts of ...

." He later said that the Israeli victory should have become a national holiday. After the

, he helped re-establish the

Gush Etzion Gush Etzion ( he, גּוּשׁ עֶצְיוֹן, ' Etzion Bloc) is a cluster of Israeli settlements located in the Judaean Mountains, directly south of Jerusalem and Bethlehem in the West Bank. The core group includes four Jewish agricultural ...

settlement bloc in the

West Bank The West Bank ( ar, الضفة الغربية, translit=aḍ-Ḍiffah al-Ġarbiyyah; he, הגדה המערבית, translit=HaGadah HaMaʽaravit, also referred to by some Israelis as ) is a landlocked territory near the coast of the Mediter ...

. He convinced Prime Minister

Levi Eshkol Levi Eshkol ( he, לֵוִי אֶשְׁכּוֹל ;‎ 25 October 1895 – 26 February 1969), born Levi Yitzhak Shkolnik ( he, לוי יצחק שקולניק, links=no), was an Israeli statesman who served as the third Prime Minister of Israe ...

to grant permission to settle in

.Gorenberg (2007), pp. 112-113 He first re-established the community of Kfar Etzion. Then, together with Rav

Yoel Bin-Nun Yoel Bin-Nun (Hebrew: יואל בן נון; born May 9, 1946, 8 Iyar 5766) is an Israeli religious Zionist rabbi and one of the founders of Yeshivat Har Etzion, Gush Emunim, Michlelet Herzog and the settlements of Alon Shevut and Ofra. He is ...

, he founded

Yeshivat Har Etzion Yeshivat Har Etzion (YHE; ), commonly known in English as "Gush" and in Hebrew as "Yeshivat HaGush", is a hesder yeshiva located in Alon Shvut, an Israeli settlement in Gush Etzion. It is considered one of the leading institutions of advanced Tor ...

and the community of Alon Shevut. They recruited Rav

Yehuda Amital Yehuda Amital ( he, יהודה עמיטל, born Yehuda Klein; 31 October 1924 – 9 July 2010) was an Orthodox rabbi, the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion, and a member of the Israeli cabinet. The concept of a Hesder Yeshiva is attributed ...

to head the new

Yeshiva A yeshiva (; he, ישיבה, , sitting; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are s ...

, and a couple years later, Rav Aharon Lichtenstein would come on

Aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the State of Israel. Traditionally descri ...

to co-head the

alongside Amital. Porat was badly wounded in the

Yom Kippur War The Yom Kippur War, also known as the Ramadan War, the October War, the 1973 Arab–Israeli War, or the Fourth Arab–Israeli War, was an armed conflict fought from October 6 to 25, 1973 between Israel and a coalition of Arab states led by ...

of 1973 on the bank of the

Suez canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popul ...

. He recovered, and was amongst 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 ...

movement, which founded over 100

Israeli settlement Israeli settlements, or Israeli colonies, are civilian communities inhabited by Israeli citizens, overwhelmingly of Jewish ethnicity, built on lands occupied by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War. The international community considers Israeli ...

s. In 1975, he led the founding of Elon Moreh, the first

in the

, in Sebastia.Gorenberg (2007), p. 316 Porat died on 4 October 2011, aged 67, of cancer. He was survived by his wife, 10 children, and 20 grandchildren.

Political career

In the 1981 elections, he was voted into the

on the Tehiya list. He resigned on 7 March 1984, towards the end of the

term, and was replaced by Zvi Shiloah. After the evacuation of

Yamit Yamit ( he, ימית) was an Israeli settlement in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula with a population of about 2,500 people. Yamit was established during Israel's occupation of the peninsula from the end of the 1967 Six-Day War until ...

in 1982, he announced his intention to build new settlements in parts of the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isra ...

still not in Israeli hands.Lustick (1988), p. 107 In 1995, he convinced Prime Minister

Yitzhak Rabin Yitzhak Rabin (; he, יִצְחָק רַבִּין, ; 1 March 1922 – 4 November 1995) was an Israeli politician, statesman and general. He was the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, serving two terms in office, 1974–77, and from 1992 until h ...

not to hand over Rachel's Tomb to the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

. He tried to repeat that in 2008. Prior to Israel's disengagement from Gaza, he instructed youngsters in Neve Dekalim in

Gush Katif Gush Katif ( he, גוש קטיף, , Harvest Bloc) was a bloc of 17 Israeli settlements in the southern Gaza strip. In August 2005, the Israeli army forcibly removed the 8,600 residents of Gush Katif from their homes after a decision from the Ca ...

to disrupt evacuation forces. In 1988, he returned to the

, this time as a member of the National Religious Party. He was re-elected in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone on b ...

. In 1996, he was appointed the NRP's parliamentary group chairman, but on 4 March 1999, he and Zvi Hendel left the party to establish a new faction, initially named Emunim, later renamed Tkuma. Prior to the 1999 elections, Tkuma formed an alliance with other small right-wing parties, named the National Union. Porat was placed third on the Union's list,Parties and Lists
The Jerusalem Post and was re-elected again. However, he resigned from the

on 20 October that year, and was replaced by Hendel.

Published works

*''Et Ahai Anohi Mevakesh'' (first published as ''Et Anat Anohi Mevakesh'') *''Me'at Min Ha'or''
Recorded lectures
on Arutz Meir (MeirTV) by Machon Meir

References

Bibliography

* *

External links