A staunch pioneer in Hebron dies

 

December 24, 2021

Rabbi Eliezer Waldman

Israel lost a fearless warrior last Sunday, Dec. 19, 2021, when Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, founder and president of the Hesder Yeshivat Nir Kiryat Arba and one of the pioneers of the renewed Jewish community of Hebron, passed away at the end of Shabbat after a brief illness.

Thousands attended the 84-year-old's funeral in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Hebron.

Rabbi Waldman was born in Petah Tikva in 1937 to Rabbi Yoel and Dina Waldman. In 1940, his family moved to the United States, where, as a teenager, he studied with the Rosh Yeshiva of Chaim Berlin in Flatbush, Rabbi Yitzchak Hutner, and also earned a bachelor's degree in psychology and philosophy from Yeshiva University. He returned to Israel in 1957 and eventually enrolled at Yeshivat Merkaz Harav and became a disciple of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook. At Merkaz Harav he befriended Rabbi Haim Drukman and the two remained study partners.

Rabbi Waldman and his wife, Ruthi, attended the dramatic Passover seder in Hebron at the Park Hotel in 1968 and ever since had been instrumental in the renewal of the Jewish community. They were among the first to move to the newly built Kiryat Arba and became community leaders alongside Rabbi Moshe and Miriam Levinger.

In 1972, Rabbi Waldman, together with Rabbi Levinger, founded the Nir Yeshiva in Kiryat Arba. He headed it for about 30 years alongside Rabbi Dov Lior. Over the years, he served as a rabbi at the Merkaz Harav yeshiva where he studied in his youth, and was a member of the Kiryat Arba municipal committee. He was one of the founders and leaders of Gush Emunim, the movement that sought to repopulate Judea and Samaria after the Six Day War of 1967, and was one of the founders of the Tehiya Party. He served as a member of the Central Secretariat and the Council of the Tehiya until its dissolution and served as an MK on its behalf in the 11th and 12th Knessets. He retired from the Knesset in January 1990.

Eventually, he encouraged ascent to the Temple Mount according to the ruling of his colleague, Rabbi Dov Lior, and even ascended to the Temple Mount himself.

Rabbi Waldman stated as early as the 1980s that "the prayer of a Jew on the Temple Mount should be the most natural part of living together in the Land of Israel." But he objected to hasty action in this area.

In the mid-1990s, during his yearly fundraising trips to the Ultra-Orthodox communities in New York, he traveled to Tampa for a speaking engagement. There Rabbi Waldman met Pastor Ken and Jorene Garrison of Fellowship Church of Winter Springs, Fla., and Jon and Mary Lou Klein of Sanford, Fla. The three men developed a lasting friendship.

Pastor Garrison introduced Rabbi Waldman to Rabbi Sholom Dubov of Greater Orlando Chabad, where Rabbi Waldman was then invited to speak. Every year thereafter, when Rabbi Waldman (and often his wife) would come to New York, they included a visit to Fellowship Church, staying with the Garrisons or the Kleins. The connection with Fellowship Church continued with Pastor Roger Diaz after Ken Garrison retired. The members of Fellowship Church dearly loved Rabbi Waldman and financially supported the Yeshiva he founded in Kiryat Arba.

In June 2021, ahead of the formation of the Lapid-Bennett government, in partnership with Meretz and Ra'am, Rabbi Waldman was one of the rabbis who signed a petition warning against a government "that will harm the most fundamental things in matters of religion and state." As well as in matters of security, when it "leans on terror-supporters."

Rabbi Waldman called on soldiers to refuse orders to evacuate Jews from anywhere in the Land of Israel but called on his students not to use violence against soldiers and police who come to evacuate them.

Dr. Noam Arnon, Hebrew-language spokesman for the Jewish community of Hebron remembered his experiences with Rabbi Waldman as a young student at the Nir Yeshiva. "Inside the soft and endearing exterior was a spine of steel which did not bend, did not surrender and did not fear," he stated. "During the historic Chanukah of 1976, I remember Rabbi Waldman stopping yeshiva studies at the Nir Yeshiva and inviting activist Hanan Porat to speak, and then leading the yeshiva to the heart of Samaria. Afterwards, the entire yeshiva moved to Kedumim, where Garin Elon Moreh was first established. Yeshivat Nir then set out to renew the Jewish community in Hebron... Rabbi Waldman contained inner strength, wrapped in a lot of enlightenment and true love for Israel," Dr. Arnon said.

The Waldmans had eight children. 

Contributors to this article include David Israel of the Jewish Press, Christine DeSouza of the Heritage Florida Jewish News and Hebron.org.

 

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