Amnon Yitzhak

Infobox Person
name = Amnon Yitzhak
_he. אמנון יצחק

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image_size = 200px
caption = Rabbi Amnon Yitzchak at a seminar on spiritual improvement and repentance in Acre, Israel.
birth_date = Birth year and age|1954
birth_place = Tel Aviv, Israel
residence = Israel
nationality = Israel
ethnicity = Yemenite
citizenship = Israel
known_for = Kiruv
occupation = Rabbi
religion = Haredi JudaismRabbi Amnon Yitzhak ( _he. אמנון יצחק) (b. 1954), is a well-known Orthodox Haredi Israeli rabbi of Yemenite origin.

Rabbi Yitzhak is widely involved in "kiruv" ("bringing [secular Jews] closer [to Torah Judaism] "). He is the head of the 'Shofar' organization, which, among other activities, distributes his lectures on audio and video cassettes around the globe. Although he does not issue halakhic opinions, these activities have made Yitzhak a prominent Israeli rabbi since the early 1990s.

Yitzhak was born in Tel Aviv, Israel to a Yemenite Jewish family. He was brought up in a non-religious home, and became religious at the age of 24. Eight years later he established the Shofar organization for promoting the "return to religion" amongst the Jewish Israeli population. [ [http://www.shofar.net/site/emedia.asp?id=992&Category=3&Prourl=mms://il12.cast-tv.com/list_vod_shofar/languages/english/54e.wmv Video of Yitzchak in Tel Aviv. He describes his life story therein.] ]

Views on Zionism

Yitzhak has also addressed the issue of the secular Zionist leadership, and has released, for example, a video titled "Herzl and Zionism", which presents a critical view of them. Yitzhak has said, referring to Theodore Herzl, "There have been two great criminals in the history of the Jewish people: Hitler and Herzl. Hitler wanted to destroy the body of the Jewish nation. Herzl wanted to kill the soul, which is far more important than the body." [http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?itemNo=271074]

In a casette titled "In the Shadow of Deomcracy" he strongly criticizes the State of Israel and the Zionist leadership for their attitude towards the Mizrahi-Traditional and Haredi Jewish public, especially during the period of the holocaust. [http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-492028,00.html]

According to ynet, Yitzhak "is considered to have a clear anti-Zionist position, similar to that of the Satmar Hassidim. Like them, he boycotts the Knesset elections. This view is extremely rare among the Haredi-Mizrahi public, and even rarer among Mizrahi Baalei Teshuva - Amnon Yitzhak's primary target audience." [http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-492028,00.html]

ee also

*Baal teshuva
*Baal teshuva movement
*Haredim and Zionism
*Anti-Zionism

References

External links

* [http://www.shofar.net/ Shofar organization]
* [http://www.trincoll.edu/depts/csrpl/RINVol6No2/Israel's%20Tele-rabbi.htm "Israel's Tele-Rabbi"]

Persondata
NAME = Amnon Yitzhak
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = Haredi Orthodox Rabbi of Yemenite origin involved in Kiruv in Israel
DATE OF BIRTH = 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH = Tel Aviv, Israel
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =