About Us

Staff, Graduates and Association Members

Maran Hgaon Shaul Israeli zt"l

President and founder of Eretz Hamdah

One of the leaders and decisors of National Religious Jewry in Israel and the World

Born: Sluck, 1910
Gained famed as a talmudic prodigy in his youth; immigrated to Eretz Yisrael, with great dedication and thanks to miracles, in 1934. With the support of Rabbi Avraham Yitzhak Hakohen Kook he became his outstanding student at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva.
In 1938, after the death of Rabbi Kook, he moved to Kfar Haroeh, which he served as rabbi until 1966.
In 1947 he was named a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council, where for many years he served as the head of the Committee on Halakhah
In 1959 he was appointed an instructor at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva.
In 1965 he was named a dayyan of the Supreme Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem.
In 1982 he became dean of the Mercaz Harav yeshiva.
From 1987 he served as president of the Eretz Hemdah Institutes, Jerusalem

Passed way on June 16, 1995 (19 Sivan 5755)

Institute staff

Rabbi Yosef Carmel

Head of the Institute

Rabbi Yosef Gershon Carmel is the head of the Eretz Hemdah Institute and serves as Av Beit Din in the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Network of Batei Din.

He was born in Jerusalem in 5713 (1953) and is a seventh-generation descendant of disciples of the Vilna Gaon. He studied at Netiv Meir Yeshiva and was among the founders of the Nir Kiryat Arba Hesder Yeshiva, where he served as a ram for approximately ten years.

He served as a combat soldier in the Yom Kippur War and the First Lebanon War.

In Elul 5747, together with Rabbi Moshe Ehrenreich zt”l and under the leadership of Maran Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli zt”l, he founded the Eretz Hemdah Institute and the Bemareh Habazak responsa project, which has published ten volumes to date. Following the passing of Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli zt”l, Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg zt”l and Rabbi Dr. Nachum Eliezer Rabinovitch zt”l joined the responsa project.

Rabbi Yosef G. Carmel heads the Ask the Rabbi project, which has provided more than 20,000 halachic responses in various languages to people from around the world.

He is the author of Tzofnat Eliyahu, a study of the Vilna Gaon’s commentary on the laws of property damage in the Choshen Mishpat section of the Shulchan Aruch; Tzofnat Yeshayahu: From Uzziah to Ahaz; and the three-volume work Tzofnat Shmuel: The Kingship of David.

Rabbi Ofer Liat

A graduate of Birkat Moshe Yeshiva in Ma’ale Adumim and of Eretz Hemdah, he received “Yadin Yadin” ordination and serves as a dayan at the Sephardic Beit Din in London. He teaches in the Torah Leadership Program for the Diaspora, which prepares rabbis for the “Rav Ir” qualification, and in the Semichah, Even HaEzer, and Choshen Mishpat programs for Diaspora rabbis, operated jointly by the Montefiore Foundation and Eretz Hemdah in London and throughout Europe and North America. He is the author of Ve’erastich Li Le’Olam, an English-language work on the laws of kiddushin.

Rav Nachson Ravenstein

A graduate of Yavne Yeshiva in Haifa, Kerem B’Yavneh Yeshiva, and Eretz Hemdah, he received “Yadin Yadin” ordination. He served as a ram at Beit El Yeshiva for twenty-six years. Beginning in the 5786 academic year, he has served as a ram in Eretz Hemdah’s “Yadin Yadin” program.

Rabbi Daniel Mann

A graduate of Kerem B’Yavneh Yeshiva and a recipient of rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University in New York, he is also a graduate of Eretz Hemdah and holds “Yadin Yadin” ordination. He serves as Av Beit Din in the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Network of Batei Din, as a senior respondent in the Ask the Rabbi project, and as the editor responsible for the English edition of Hemdath Yamim. He is the author of the seven-volume series Living the Halachic Process.

Rabbi Menachem Jacobowitz

A graduate of Yeshivat Har Etzion and a recipient of rabbinic ordination from Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary at Yeshiva University in New York, he is also a graduate of Eretz Hemdah and holds “Yadin Yadin” ordination. He serves as a dayan in the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Network of Batei Din, is a member of the faculty of the Torah Leadership Program for the Diaspora, and serves on the editorial board of the Bemareh Habazak responsa project.

Rav Doron Podlashuk

A graduate of Yeshivat Har Etzion, he serves as the rabbi of the Mizrachi community in Johannesburg, South Africa, and as the head and director of the Torah Leadership Program for the Diaspora.

Rav Asaf Har-Noy

A graduate of Ma’alot Yaakov Hesder Yeshiva and Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim, he serves as an infantry officer in the IDF reserves. He is a graduate of Eretz Hemdah and holds “Yadin Yadin” ordination. He serves as the director of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Network of Batei Din and as the rabbi of the Aderet Eliyahu community in Gilo.

Rav Ido Rechnitz

A graduate of Yeshivat Har Etzion, Eretz Hemdah, and the Dayanut Program at the Mishpetei Eretz Institute, he holds “Yadin Yadin” ordination. He serves as Av Beit Din in the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Network of Batei Din and as Director of Research at the Mishpetei Eretz Institute.

In Memory of Eretz Hemdah Staff Members

Rabbi Moshe Ehrenreich zt"l

Head of the Institute

Head of the Eretz Hemdah Institute and Av Beit Din in the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Network of Batei Din. Born in Hungary in 5706 (1946), he studied at Yeshivat HaYishuv HeHadash and graduated from Kerem B’Yavneh Yeshiva, where he served as a ram for twenty years. He served in the Yom Kippur War.

In Elul 5747, together with Rabbi Yosef G. Carmel, may he live and be well, and under the leadership of Maran Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli zt”l, he founded the Eretz Hemdah Institute and the Bemareh Habazak responsa project, which has published ten volumes. Following the passing of Rabbi Shaul Yisraeli zt”l, Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg zt”l and Rabbi Dr. Nachum Eliezer Rabinovitch zt”l joined the responsa project.

He served as a dayan on the Special Beit Din for Conversion under the auspices of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and is the author of Hemdat Moshe.

Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg zt"l

Rabbi Zalman Nechemia Goldberg served for many years as a member of the Supreme Rabbinical Court. From the founding of the Eretz Hemdah kollel until shortly before his passing, a period of more than thirty years, he delivered a weekly shiur at Eretz Hemdah. He was also a member of the Halachic Committee of the *Bemareh Habazak* responsa project and served as President of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Beit Din Network.

Rabbi Goldberg was descended from a distinguished family of Lithuanian rabbis. In his youth, he studied at Chevron Yeshiva. He was married to Rachel, the daughter of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, who passed away shortly after him.

Rabbi Goldberg was renowned as a posek and as a teacher of Torah scholars throughout Israel. His rulings reflect extensive expertise in the laws of gittin and ketubot, in vitro fertilization, intellectual property rights, and the settlement of Eretz Yisrael.

He was widely known by the acronym **HaGRaZ”N**, referring to *HaGaon Rabbi Zalman Nechemia*. The name also evokes the Hebrew word *garzen*, “axe,” alluding to his exceptional sharpness and analytical power in Torah study.

His published works include:

* *Chazon Kedumim* and *Ginzei HaTorah* – shiurim on several Talmudic tractates
* *Mishpat Aruch* – halachic rulings and the views of the Acharonim on the *Choshen Mishpat* section of the *Shulchan Aruch*, in five volumes
* Articles published in various Torah journals
* *Saviv HaMavet* – responsa addressing halachic aspects of the treatment of terminally ill patients

Rabbi Dr. Nachum L. Rabinovitch zt"l

Rabbi Nachum Eliezer Rabinovitch was the Rosh Yeshiva of Birkat Moshe Yeshiva in Ma’ale Adumim and one of the leading halachic authorities of Religious Zionism. He was a member of the Halachic Committee of the *Bemareh Habazak* responsa project and of the Torah leadership of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Network of Batei Din.

Rabbi Rabinovitch was born in 5688 (1928) in Montreal, Canada. He studied at the yeshiva of Rabbi Pinchas Hirschsprung, the Chief Rabbi of Montreal, and later at Ner Israel Rabbinical College in Baltimore under Rabbi Yitzchak Ruderman, who granted him Semichah.

He served as a community rabbi in Texas, Charleston, and later Toronto, and subsequently headed a rabbinical seminary in England.

Rabbi Rabinovitch was one of the foremost authorities on the teachings of the Rambam. For many years, he worked on *Yad Peshutah*, his commentary on the Rambam’s *Mishneh Torah*.

His other works include:

* *Melumdei Milchamah* – responsa on halachic questions relating to military service
* *Iyunim BeMishnato Shel HaRambam* – studies in the thought and teachings of the Rambam
* *Darkah Shel Torah* – essays on halachic thought
* *Hadar Itamar* – concluding studies on Talmudic tractates
* *Siach Nachum* – responsa