16 Facts About Shlomo Aviner

Shlomo Chaim Hacohen Aviner is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi.

Shlomo Aviner is the rosh yeshiva of Ateret Yerushalayim and the former rabbi of Beit El, an Israeli settlement.

Shlomo Aviner is considered one of the spiritual leaders of the Religious Zionist movement.

Shlomo Chaim Ha-Cohen Aviner was born in 1943 in German-occupied Lyon, France.

Shlomo Aviner studied mathematics, physics, and electrical engineering at the Superior School of Electricity.

At the age of 23, infused with the idea of working the Land of Israel, Aviner made aliyah to Sde Eliyahu, a kibbutz near Beit She'an.

Shlomo Aviner then went to learn at Yeshivat Mercaz HaRav in Jerusalem, where he became a leading student of Zvi Yehuda Kook, the rosh yeshiva and son of Israel's first chief rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook.

In 1971, Shlomo Aviner became the rabbi of Kibbutz Lavi in the Lower Galilee, where he spent half of his day working on the farm.

In 1981, Shlomo Aviner accepted the position of rabbi of Beit El, in the Binyamin region of the Shomron, a position he held until 2013.

Shlomo Aviner explained that the religious issue was the state's responsibility, not the individual's.

Shlomo Aviner opposed the resistance to the eviction plans, in one case getting physical with a protester.

In 2007, in an article about Baruch Marzel's threats regarding repeated attempts by the Israeli government to evacuate Homesh, Shlomo Aviner shared his view that the IDF was correct in its reasoning to remove the latest wave of settlers and demonstrators from the site of the abandoned settlement in order to protect them from future terrorist attacks.

Shlomo Aviner made a distinction between the IDF's responsibility to protect settlements and its responsibility to protect demonstrators, saying that while the IDF should use any means at its disposal to protect a settlement and keep it intact, including using armed forces, it should nevertheless evacuate demonstrators if that is deemed necessary to protect their lives.

In 2009, a booklet drawing on Shlomo Aviner's teachings entitled, "Go Fight My Fight: A Daily Study Table for the Soldier and Commander in a Time of War", was published especially for Operation Cast Lead.

In December 2010, in the wake of a controversial rabbis' letter spearheaded by Shmuel Eliyahu forbidding the renting of homes to Arabs in Israel, Shlomo Aviner endorsed the initiative.

In 2012, Shlomo Aviner presented a religious ruling that women in Israel should not run for parliament for reasons of modesty.