Israel Meir Lau

Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau

Israel Meir Lau ( Hebrew ישראל מאיר לאו; * June 1, 1937 in Piotrków Trybunalski , Poland ) is the current Chief Rabbi of the city of Tel Aviv in Israel . From 1993 to 2003 he was Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel.

Life

Lau's father Moshe Chaim Lau was the rabbi of Piotrków. At the age of six, Meir Lau was deported to the Buchenwald concentration camp . He and his brother Naphtali were the only members of their family to survive the Shoah . Both emigrated to Palestine in 1945 .

After studying the Talmud in Jerusalem (at the Yeshiva Kol Torah ), in Zichron Ja'akow and Bnei Brak , Meir Lau was ordained a rabbi in 1971 and worked in Tel Aviv and Netania . From 1988 to 1993 he was chief rabbi and head of the Beth Din of Tel Aviv / Jaffa. He then held the office of the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel and after the end of his term in 2003 he was again Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv.

In 2005 Lau received the Israel Prize for Lifetime Achievement. In the same year he was awarded the Bar-Ilan University , the honorary doctorate . In 2008, after the death of Josef Lapid, he was appointed the new chairman of the Yad Vashem memorial advisory board .

Lau is the author of a non-fiction book, the German translation of which "How Jews live" appeared in several editions.

He is the father of three sons and five daughters. His son David Lau has been the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel since 2013.

Web links

Commons : Israel Meir Lau - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

zeit.de September 13, 2012: Lau 2012 on the discussion in Germany about the religiously motivated circumcision of underage boys

Individual evidence

↑ Daniela Segenreich: Up from the abyss. Israel Meir Lau - contemporary witness of the Holocaust and chief rabbi in Israel . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, November 4, 2015, p. 43.
^ Honorary Doctorate Recipients , Internet site of the Bar Ilan University
^ Rabbi Israel Meir Lau Appointed Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council , November 9, 2008

personal data
SURNAME	Lau, Israel Meir
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	ישראל מאיר לאו (Hebrew)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Israeli Chief Rabbi
DATE OF BIRTH	June 1, 1937
PLACE OF BIRTH	Piotrków Trybunalski , Poland

[1] Daniela Segenreich: Up from the abyss. Israel Meir Lau - contemporary witness of the Holocaust and chief rabbi in Israel . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, November 4, 2015, p. 43.

[2] Honorary Doctorate Recipients , Internet site of the Bar Ilan University

[3] Rabbi Israel Meir Lau Appointed Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council , November 9, 2008