Yonasan David

Rabbi Yonason David during the 1970s.

Yonasan Dovid David (also known as Jonathan Dovid David) is a Haredi rabbi and rosh yeshiva (dean) of Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok and Kollel Ohr Eliyahu in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem. He also serves as the co-rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin together with Rabbi Aaron Schechter in Brooklyn, New York.

Biography

David is married to Dr. Bruria David, the only child of Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner. His brother is Rabbi Hillel David, a noted posek (decisor of Jewish law) in Brooklyn. David is often cited as a notable source within the Haredi world's intellectual circles.^[1][2][3][4]

Education

David became a disciple of Hutner when he enrolled at the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin as a teenager. He subsequently also spent time at the Mir yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin

A number of years prior to his passing in 1980, Hutner officially announced that Schechter and David would both serve as equal rosh yeshivas of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin. This was done when the yeshiva moved to its location on Coney Island Avenue in 1966 and Hutner declared to all present that henceforth Rabbis Schechter and David would both sit at the front of the main beth midrash (the main study hall of the yeshiva), with Schechter sitting at the front right, David at the front left, and Hutner in the center. Even after Hutner's death, the center seat was left empty, with Schechter continuing to occupy the front right position. David resides in Jerusalem for most of the year, but returns to Brooklyn for most of the Hebrew month of Nisan to celebrate Passover and for some of the month of Tishrei. During those times, he serves as co-rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin together with Schechter, and occupies the front left seat.

Black September hijacking

In 1970 David and his wife accompanied her father and mother on a trip from New York to Israel. During their return flight on 6 September 1970, their plane was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The terrorists freed the non-Jewish passengers and held the Jewish passengers hostage on the plane for one week, after which the women and children – including Dr. David and his mother – were released and sent to Cyprus. During a press conference held on the airfield next to the hijacked planes, journalists were invited to interview several hostages, including David. He told the press that "the captives were being treated decently, but that the terrorists were circulating among their captives with biks (the Yiddish word for machine guns) in their hands".^[5]

The hijacked airplanes were subsequently detonated and the remaining 40-plus Jewish men – including Hutner, David, and two students accompanying Hutner, Rabbi Meir Fund and Rabbi Yaakov Drillman – and male flight crew continued to be held hostage, first in a refugee camp and then in safe houses in and around Amman, Jordan. On 26 September, Hutner, David and the students were released and flown to Nicosia, Cyprus. Israeli Knesset Member Rabbi Menachem Porush chartered a private plane to meet them in Nicosia, and reported that the men looked emaciated. On 28 September, Hutner, David, their wives and students were flown back to New York via Europe, and were home in time for the first night of Rosh Hashana.^[5]

Works

David and his wife have edited the works of Rabbi Hutner, known as Pachad Yitzchok ("Fear of Isaac").^[6] They also compiled and published the official biography of Hutner, known as "Sefer HaZikaron" ("Book of Remembrance").^[7] Rabbi David edited a subsequent volume of Hutner's "Igros Ukesavim" ("Letters and Writings").^[8][9] David has also issued his own contributions based on Hutner's thoughts known as Ma'amarei Pachad Yitzchok ("Talks/Teachings of Pachad Yitzchok").^[10]

See also

• List of rosh yeshivas

References