David Lau

Rabbi David Baruch Lau
דוד ברוך לאו‎
Title	Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel
Personal
Born	David Baruch Lau (1966-01-13) 13 January 1966 Tel Aviv, Israel
Religion	Judaism
Nationality	Israeli
Parent	Yisrael (Israel) Meir Lau
Denomination	Orthodox
Jewish leader
Predecessor	Yona Metzger
Successor	Kalman Ber
Began	2013
Ended	June 30, 2024
Other	Chief Rabbi of Shoham Chief Rabbi of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut
Residence	Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut

David Baruch Lau (Hebrew: דוד לאו; born 13 January 1966) is an Israeli rabbi who served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 2013 to 2024. He previously served as the Chief Rabbi of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, Israel, and as the Chief Rabbi of Shoham. Lau is the son of former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yisrael Meir Lau.

Biography

David Baruch Lau was born in Tel Aviv. He is the son of Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, who served as the Chief Rabbi of Israel. and of Chaya Ita, the daughter of Rabbi Yitzchak Yedidya Frankel, the rabbi of Tel Aviv.

He was a member of the Ezra youth movement in Tel Aviv.

His service in the IDF, which he completed with the rank of Rav séren, was in the Military Rabbinate.

He studied at Yeshivat HaYishuv HeHadash, and later at Beit Matityau Yeshiva and Ponevezh Yeshiva.

He served as the Chief Rabbi of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut, Israel, and as the Chief Rabbi of Shoham.

On 24 July 2013, he was elected as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. He became the youngest rabbi ever to be elected to this position, being 47 years old at the time of his election.

Lau is married to Tziporah Ralbag.

Rabbinic career

Lau was the first rabbi of the town of Shoham. When the city of Modi'in was established, he was chosen as its Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, alongside the Sephardi Chief Rabbi Eliyahu Alharar. Along with Alharar, he established Torah classes in the city, including on the subjects of kashrut, eruvim, and Jewish weddings. Lau is a reserve major in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), where he served in the chaplaincy of the Intelligence Corps.

Lau was one of the first rabbis in Israel to teach responsa over the internet. He has hosted programs over various media platforms on subjects such as the weekly Torah portion and halakhic questions and answers.

On 24 July 2013, Lau was elected as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. At the time, he was the youngest person (at 47) to be elected to that position. The inauguration took place on 14 August 2013 at the official residence of the President of Israel. In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, Lau declared that no one should touch or kiss mezuzot, in order to prevent further spread of the virus.

In 2024, he stepped down as Chief Rabbi despite no successor having been appointed. On October 31, 2024, Rabbi Kalman Ber was appointed to suceed Rabbi Lau as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel.

Published works

Lau has published articles in journals such as Tehumin, and edited a book of his father's responsa titled Yichil Yisrael. He also edited and published a book in memory of his grandfather, Yitzchak Yedidya Frankel. In 2008, he published his book Maskil LeDavid on issues of genealogy, conversion, military law, and other matters.

Controversies

Lau affixing a mezuzah at the CHAJ centre in The Hague, 2016

Lau took a semikhah (rabbinic ordination) test in 1993. Dov Lior, the administering rabbi, asserted that Lau brought papers with answers to previous tests into the examination room. Lau denied the allegations, but he was disqualified. He was re-tested in 1994, and passed the exam.

In his first week in office as Chief Rabbi of Israel, Lau referred to African-Americans who play basketball on Israeli teams as kushim. Although in a Biblical context, it refers to the ancient Kingdom of Kush, it is currently considered a derogatory term for Black people. His comments were widely condemned as racist, and MK Amram Mitzna and Ethiopian-born MK Pnina Tamanu-Shata called upon him to apologize. Naftali Bennett, however, defended Lau.

In 2018, Lau was accused of trying to appoint his brother-in-law, Mordechai Ralbag, as a replacement for a rabbinical judge who was investigating corruption involving hekdeshot (Haredi non-profit property trusts). Lau and the Ralbag family denied any wrongdoing. Later that year, during the immediate aftermath of a shooting at a Conservative synagogue, Lau gave an interview to a Haredi newspaper during which he avoided calling the attack venue a synagogue, referring to it only as "a place with profound Jewish flavor". The omission was taken as a snub by Jews from non-Orthodox congregations.

In August 2019, Lau instructed the chevra kadisha to delay the burial in Jerusalem of the mother of an American Haredi man, Yisrael Meir Kin, until he agreed to give his wife a get (religious writ of divorce). Kin's relatives in Israel deposited $20,000 with the Supreme Rabbinical Court and signed a document pledging to do what they could to convince him. Kin accused Lau of corruption, and said that no one from Lau's office had contacted him. He said that the divorce papers had been filed ten years earlier at a religious court in Monsey, New York, and Lau, who was related to his wife, had taken sides in the case. A relative of Lau denied that he was related, but Haaretz determined that they are in fact related, though distantly. Lau's office responded to Kin's statements, saying that the chief rabbi was not aware of the family relation while dealing with the case, and that they were sorry that Kin, who had denied his wife a get "for more than 15 years", was "continuing his refusal despite the agreements reached ... [Lau] will continue his unwavering war on the phenomenon of get-refusal, and "will do everything he can, including [imposing] the most severe sanctions, to end any case of get-refusal that may develop". Officials in the Ministry of Religious Services said the chief rabbi has no jurisdiction over burial matters.

In December 2021, Lau was criticised for attending the shiva of prominent Haredi author Chaim Walder, who had committed suicide amidst allegations of being involved in sexual abuse against minors and married women. Natan Slifkin wrote in a blogpost

By honoring the family with a visit while not making any statement about Walder, this lends support to the 'persecuted tzaddik (righteous one)' narrative. In addition, by not making any statement of support for the victims, it is a further slap in the face to them.

Lau subsequently issued a statement encouraging sexual assault victims to come forward and report the abuse to the proper authorities.

On 17 December 2023, in the midst of Israel's response to a Hamas-led surprise attack which left 1200 Israelis dead, it was reported that two women were killed by an IDF sniper in the courtyard of a Catholic church in Gaza. Pope Francis, responding to this incident which occurred in the context of tens of thousands of other Palestinian deaths at the hands of the IDF, said "Some are saying, 'This is terrorism and war'. Yes, it is war. It is terrorism." Noting that Francis had previously pointed out to Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a meeting in November that it is "forbidden to respond to terror with terror", Lau wrote a letter to Francis protesting his use of the word "terror" to describe Israel's actions in Gaza, saying that it was a mischaracterisation.

External links

Media related to David Lau at Wikimedia Commons