Haim Drukman | |
|---|---|
חיים דרוקמן | |
 Drukman in 1982 | |
| Faction represented in theKnesset | |
| 1977–1983 | National Religious Party |
| 1983–1984 | Independent |
| 1984–1986 | Morasha |
| 1986–1988 | National Religious Party |
| 1999–2003 | National Religious Party |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1932-11-15)15 November 1932 Kuty, Poland |
| Died | 25 December 2022(2022-12-25) (aged 90) |
Haim Drukman (Hebrew:חיים דרוקמן; 15 November 1932 – 25 December 2022) was an IsraeliOrthodox rabbi and politician. The most senior spiritual leader of theReligious Zionist community at the time of his death, he served asrosh yeshiva (dean) ofYeshivat Or Etzion, and head of the Center forBnei Akiva Yeshivot.
A founder ofGush Emunim, Drukman served in the IsraeliKnesset as a member of theNational Religious Party andMorasha. As director of the State Conversion Authority, he worked to make Jewish conversions more accessible toimmigrant Russians of Jewish descent. He was awarded theIsrael Prize for his contribution to society and education.
Haim Meir Drukman was born inKuty in theSecond Polish Republic (today inUkraine). His mother's name was Milkah.[1] After hiding with his parents duringthe Holocaust, he immigrated toMandate Palestine in 1944 by posing as the child of a different set of parents. He was reunited with his real parents afterWorld War II. In 1949, Drukman joined theIsrael Defense Forces as part of theBnei Akivagar'in (pioneer group) in theNahal brigade. In this capacity, he took part in the rebuilding of tworeligious kibbutzim,Tirat Zvi andSa'ad, which were damaged in the1948 Arab–Israeli War. After his discharge, Drukman studied at the Aliyah Institute inPetah Tikva andYeshivat Kfar Haroeh. He then transferred to theMercaz HaRav yeshiva inJerusalem, where he became a student ofZvi Yehuda Kook. In 1952, he became a member of Bnei Akiva's National Directorate, and from 1955 until 1956, he served as an emissary of the organisation to the United States, at Kook's behest.[2]
In 1964, once again with his teacher's encouragement, Drukman foundedYeshivat Or Etzion, a Bnei Akiva-affiliatedmamlachti dati (state religious) high school, inMerkaz Shapira.[2] In 1977, he established ahesder yeshiva there, which for many years was the largest one in the country. He remainedrosh yeshiva (dean) there for the rest of his life. In 1995, he founded Ohr MeOfir there, an academy for high school graduates of theEthiopian community. Since 1996, he had also been the head of the Center for Bnei Akiva Yeshivot andulpanot (girls-only high schools) in Israel.[3]
In response to a wave of emigration of Jews from the formerSoviet Union in the 1990s, a considerable number of whom havingquestions as to their Jewishness,[4] Drukman became involved in Jewish conversion advocacy, even setting up a specialbeth din (religious court) for this purpose. In 2004, he was appointed director of the newly created State Conversion Authority, which provides services to candidates for conversion to Judaism through thePrime Minister's Office. Throughout this period, he often came into disagreement with seniorHaredi rabbis in Israel in regard to his conversion standards, which they deemed to be too lax according to their reading ofhalakha (Jewish law). After rabbinic courts rolled back thousands of Drukman's conversions, theSupreme Court of Israel reinstated them.[5] Drukman's efforts were recognised byBenjamin Netanyahu, who said that the rabbi "found a way of bringing hearts together that helped masses of new immigrants to join the ranks of our people".[2]
Drukman was considered to be the most influential spiritual leader ofReligious Zionism.[6][7] He was instrumental in shifting this sector over from the centre-left, where it had been during Israel's founding, to the far right. For all of his Jewish advocacy, he was forever mindful to the reality that Israel was founded as a democratic state of all its citizens.[2]
For close to 50 years, many political campaigns and deals involving Religious Zionism were forged in Drukman's living room.[1] In 1974, he played a leading role in the establishment ofGush Emunim, an ultranationalist right-wingsettler organisation.[8][9]
Drukman was first elected to theKnesset in the1977 elections on theNational Religious Party's (NRP) list and served as a member of the 9th Knesset from 1977 to 1981. He was a member of the Knesset committees for the Appointment of Rabbinic Judges, Foreign Affairs and Defense, and Education and Culture during this tenure.[10]
He wasre-elected in 1981, again representing the National Religious Party in the 10th Knesset from 1981 to 1984 and serving as a member of the same Knesset committees as he had during the 9th Knesset. He was appointed DeputyMinister of Religious Affairs on 11 August 1981. However, he resigned on 2 March 1982 in protest against the final withdrawal of Israel fromSinai Peninsula as part of theCamp David Accords.[9] On 10 October 1983, he broke away from the NRP and attempted to form a Knesset faction named the Zionist Religious Camp, but was refused permission to do so by the House Committee. Instead, he sat as a single member of Knesset for the remainder of his term.[11][10]
In the run-up to the1984 elections, he andAvraham Verdiger formed a new party,Morasha. It won two seats, taken by the two founders. Although the party joined the government, neither Drukman nor Verdiger were given cabinet posts. On 29 July 1986, Drukman left Morasha and returned to the NRP. While serving this tenure in the 11th Knesset, he was a member of the Knesset committee for Foreign Affairs and Defense and the subcommittee for the Examination of the Draft Exemption of Yeshiva Students. At the end of the term in 1988, he left the Knesset, choosing instead to express his political views from outside that body.[2][10]
Drukman returned to serve his final four-year term during the 15th Knesset from 1999 to 2003, again as a representative for the National Religious Party. He was a member of the committees for Foreign Affairs and Defense, the Appointment of Rabbinic Judges, and Internal Affairs and Environment, as well as a member on the special committees for the Discussion of the Security Service Law, and on Addictions, Drugs, and the Challenges Facing Young Israelis.[10]
In his later years, Drukman threw his support behindThe Jewish Home party ofNaftali Bennett, and, finally, theReligious Zionist Party underBezalel Smotrich.[2] Drukman was instrumental in bridging the gap between Smotrich and Benjamin Netanyahu when the latter sought to put together a right-wing coalition government. Drukman even invitedMansour Abbas to his home, in order to explore the possibility of including theUnited Arab List in a narrow right-wing coalition.[1] Before his death, he was placed honorary last spot onReligious Zionist Party list on2022 Israeli legislative election.[12]
Drukman was a proponent of the confluence of the three concepts of Israel: TheNation of Israel keeping theTorah of Israel in theLand of Israel.[6] He took part in aPassover Seder in newly occupiedHebron in 1968, which eventually led to the founding of an Israeli settlement in that city.[2] In 1993, while he was travelling in a car to nearbyKiryat Arba, aPalestinian man opened fire on his car, killing Drukman's driver, but failing to kill him. Although it was not clear that Drukman was specifically targeted, nevertheless, he was provided withShin Bet protection until the threat level subsided.[2]
Drukman opposed theevacuation of Yamit in 1982, moving there temporarily with his family in order to make a political statement. He also protested against theGaza disengagement in 2005. He issued a ruling to soldiers to avoid being involved in these kinds of situations, and, where that was not possible, to refuse such orders.[2] On the other hand, Drukman urged his followers to refrain from taking part in a massiveprotest against conscription of yeshiva students that was held in Jerusalem in 2014.[13]
Drukman did not support acontroversial letter penned by rabbis in 2010 that called for Jews to refrain from letting homes to Arabs. He did say, however, that there may be some instances where this ruling might still be appropriate.[2]
Drukman lived inMerkaz Shapira with his wife Sarah, one of the first religious women to graduate as a physician from theHebrew University of Jerusalem. Together, they had nine children, including one who was adopted and another who hadDown syndrome, along with dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.[2]
He died on 25 December 2022, at age 90, atHadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem, after becoming infected withCOVID-19 two weeks prior.[1][6]
Drukman had an outsized influence on Israel's populace, especially in the Religious Zionist sector.[2] Many of the thousands of students from his schools went on to serve in important political, military, and educational positions in the country, including:
In 2012, Drukman was awarded theIsrael Prize for his contribution to society and education.[15]
Leading nationalist religious Rabbi Chaim Druckman will receive the Israel Prize for his contributions to society and education, Education Minister Gideon Saar announced Wednesday.
