Yisrael Meir Lau

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Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau addresses the United Nations
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau addresses the United Nations

Yisrael (Israel) Meir Lau is the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Israel. He previously served as the Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi from 1993 to 2003.

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[edit] Childhood

Lau was born on June 1, 1937, in the Polish town of Piotrków Trybunalski. His father, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau, was the last Chief Rabbi of the town and died in the Treblinka death camp.

Lau was freed from the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945. His entire family was murdered with the exception of his older brother, Naphtali Lau-Lavie, his half brother, Yehoshua Lau-Hager, and his uncle already living in Israel.

Lau immigrated to Israel with his brother Naphtali in July 1945, and he was ordained a rabbi in 1971. He is married to the daughter of the former Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. He served as chief rabbi in Netanya (1978-1988), and at that time developed his reputation as a popular orator. He wrote a memoir about his experiences in the Holocaust entitled "Do Not Raise Your Hand Against the Boy", released in 2000 on the 55th anniversary of Buchenwald's liberation. The book became a best-seller in Israel.[citation needed]

[edit] Public life

On June 9, 2005, Lau was reinstalled as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv after serving in this position from 1985 until 1993, when he was appointed Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, a position which he held until 2003.

Lau has often been characterized as the "consensus rabbi", and has close ties to both Haredi and Modern Orthodox Judaism, particularly in regard to his politics, which have been characterized as moderate Zionist. One report described him as "too Zionist to be considered haredi."2 He is respected internationally by Jews and non-Jews alike, and is one of the few figures in the Haredi world who has managed to gain the trust and admiration of both the Sephardic and Ashkenazic population.

Lau has also received some negative attention for his stances and remarks on non-Orthodox denominations of Judaism. When Lau was awarded the Israel Prize in May 2005, there were protests from the Masorti and Reform movements in Israel. Non-Orthodox leaders noted that it was ironic that Lau was being honored for "bridging rifts in Israeli society". Lau's spokespeople said that the fact that he had been approved by the (presumably heterogeneous) Prize Committee spoke for itself.3

[edit] Presidential Candidacy

In the spring of 2006, the Israeli media reported that Rabbi Lau was being considered for presidency of the State of Israel.4 Some critics in the Israeli media wrote that Lau was more focused on maintaining his image as a progressive than in implementing such positions in the rabbinate's policies, specifically major issues such as agunot, civil marriage, the status of Shabbat, and other divisive topics that continue to be relevant to many in the secular community vis-a-vis the Chief Rabbinate, which under Lau's leadership usually sided with the Orthodox perspective.5 Another criticism was that a rabbi as president could further blur the line between religion and the state, and push Israel closer to becoming a theocracy, both in fact and public perception.6 Israel's gay community also opposed Lau's possible candidacy due to his criticism of the Gay Pride parade in Tel Aviv and views on same sex couples. Lau said: "I fail to understand the source of pride here. Why do they have to display their personal preferences in public?" On same sex unions, Lau said "it pains me to see that an abnormal way of life is replacing the family unit." 7

The Reform and Conservative movements in Israel also regarded Lau's candidacy as "unsuitable." A Reform activist accused Rabbi Lau of being more concerned with fulfilling Judaism's ritual requirements than focusing on pressing ethical questions such as discrimination in Israel or genocide in Darfur.8

[edit] Family

Lau is the father of Rabbi David Lau, the Chief Rabbi of Modi'in. He is the uncle of Rabbi Dr. Binyamin (Benny) Lau, an educator and activist in the Religious Zionist movement, and Amichai Lau-Lavie, the founder and artistic director of the Jewish ritual theater company Storahtelling.

[edit] Quotes

  • "Let’s sit down together, and let’s live together. We always knew how to die together. The time has come for us to know also how to live together." — Lau, calling for co-operation and dialogue between all Jews (Jerusalem, February 14, 1999).9

[edit] Published Works

  • Do Not Raise a Hand Against the Boy

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Avraham Shapira		 Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel
Yisrael Meir Lau
1993–2003		 Succeeded by
Yona Metzger