AMITAL, RABBI YEHUDA

(1925- )

Born in Transylvania, as a boy he studied inhederand yeshiva and had virtually no formal seculareducation. In 1943, the Nazis deported him to a labor camp, and his family perished in Auschwitz. He immigrated (see ALIYA) toPalestinein December 1944 and joined theHagana, participating in the battles ofLatrunand the westernGalileeduring theWar of Independence(1948—49).He resumed his yeshiva studies inJerusalem, where he was ordained as a rabbi. He was the founder and dean (Rosh Yeshiva) of the Orthodox Har Etzion Yeshiva, located in theWest Bank settlementof Alon Shvut; the founder of the national-religioushesder yeshiva system, which combines Orthodox religious studies with military service; and the founder and former chairman of theMeimad(Movement for ReligiousZionistRenewal, or Dimension) Party that broke away from theNational Religious Party(NRP) in 1988 to protest the NRP's shift to the political Right on many domestic and foreign policy issues. Under Amital's leadership, Meimad ran lists in the 1988 and 1992Knesset elections, but in each instance, the party failed to win a sufficient share of the vote to take seats in theKnesset. He agreed to serve as minister without portfolio in the government formed byShimon Peresafter the November 1995 assassination ofYitzhak Rabin. Amital sought to promote dialogue and to lessen polarization within Israeli society on both domestic and security policy issues. On matters of peace and security, he supported the principle of territorial compromise based on the notion that the "good of the people and State of Israel takes precedence over political control over the entire Land of Israel." While wishing to see increased adherence toHalachaamong Israeli Jews, he opposed the "religious coercion" exerted by the ultra-Orthodoxpolitical partiesin seeking to force through legislation affecting the "status quo agreement" over religious affairs. He advocated maximum tolerance among Israelis and between Israelis andDiasporaJewish communities with regard to the contentious "Who Is a Jew" debate. Amital remains the spiritual leader of Meimad.