ר׳ יהודה עמיטל

ר׳ יהודה עמיטל (1924–2010), born Yehuda Klein in Oradea, was a Holocaust survivor, Israeli soldier, educator and founding rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion. Deported to forced labor in 1944 while his parents and siblings were murdered at Auschwitz, he reached Mandatory Palestine late that year, studied at Yeshivat Hevron under ר׳ איסר זלמן מלצר and ר׳ יעקב משה חרל״פ, joined the Haganah and fought in the War of Independence. At Yeshivat HaDarom he helped formulate the hesder model combining Torah study with military service. He founded Yeshivat Har Etzion after the Six-Day War and invited ר׳ אהרן ליכטנשטיין to join its leadership. His religious thought emphasized human responsibility, moral seriousness, state-building without messianic certainty, and intellectual humility. He later founded Meimad and briefly served as an Israeli minister without portfolio.