Yonasan David - Biography

Yonasan Dovid David (also known as Jonathan Dovid David) is the rosh yeshiva ("dean") of Yeshiva Pachad Yitzchok and Kollel Ohr Eliyahu in the Har Nof section in Jerusalem. He also serves as the co-rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin together with Rabbi Aaron Schechter in Brooklyn, New York City.

Biography

Rabbi David is married to Dr. Bruria David, the only child of Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner. His brother is Rabbi Hillel David a noted posek ("decisor [of Jewish law]") in Brooklyn. Rabbi David is often used as a notable source within the Haredi world's intellectual circles.

Rabbi David became a disciple of Rabbi Hutner when he enrolled at the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin as a teenager. He subsequently also spent time at the Mir yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Black September hijacking

In 1970 Rabbi and Mrs. David accompanied her father and mother on a trip from New York to Israel. During their return flight on 6 September 1970, their plane was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The terrorists freed the non-Jewish passengers and held the Jewish passengers hostage on the plane for one week, after which the women and children – including Dr. David and her mother – were released and sent to Cyprus. During a press conference held on the airfield next to the hijacked planes, journalists were invited to interview several hostages, including Rabbi David. He told the press that "the captives were being treated decently, but that the terrorists were circulating among their captives with biks (the Yiddish word for machine guns) in their hands".

The hijacked airplanes were subsequently detonated and the remaining 40-plus Jewish men – including Rabbi Hutner, Rabbi David, and two students accompanying Rabbi Hutner, Rabbi Meir Fund and Rabbi Yaakov Drillman – and male flight crew continued to be held hostage, first in a refugee camp and then in safe houses in and around Amman, Jordan. On 26 September Rabbi Hutner, Rabbi David and the students were released and flown to Nicosia, Cyprus. Israeli Knesset Member Rabbi Menachem Porush chartered a private plane to meet them in Nicosia, and reported that the men looked emaciated. On 28 September Rabbi Hutner, Rabbi David, their wives and students were flown back to New York via Europe, and were home in time for the first night of Rosh Hashana.

Rosh yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin

A number of years prior to his passing in 1980, Rabbi Hutner officially announced that Rabbi Aaron Schechter and Rabbi Yonasan David would both serve as equal rosh yeshivas of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin. This was done when the yeshiva moved to its location on Coney Island Avenue in 1966 and Rabbi Hutner declared to all present that henceforth Rabbis Schechter and David would both sit at the front of the main beth midrash (the main study hall of the yeshiva), with Rabbi Schechter sitting at the front right and Rabbi David at the front left, and with Rabbi Hutner sitting in the center. Even after the death of Rabbi Hutner, the center seat has been left empty as a kind of "holy spot", with Rabbi Schechter continuing to occupy the front right position. When Rabbi David returns for brief visits from Israel he assumes his position in the front left of the beth midrash. The seating arrangements reflect both Rabbi Schechter's and Rabbi David's positions of supreme authority within the totality of the yeshiva.

Rabbi Yitchok Hutner's legacy

• Rabbi and Rebbetzin David have edited the works of Rabbi Hutner, known as Pachad Yitzchok ("Fear of Isaac" also: "Isaac's Fear/Awe").
• The couple complied and published the official biography of Rabbi Hutner known as "Sefer HaZikaron" ("Book of Remembrance").
• Edited a subsequent volume of Rabbi Hutner's "Igros Ukesavim" ("Letters and Writings"): "This volume consists of 264 letters and other writings. The unique character of this volume, as distinct from the other published volumes of the Pachad Yitzchak series, is spelled out in a brief, masterful introduction consisting of divrei Torah contributed by Rabbi Yonasan David shlita (son-in-law of the Rosh Yeshivah). The volume is divided into several sections: The first section contains letters dealing primarily with Hilchos De'os Vechovas Halevavos (duties of the heart and mind.)"
• Rabbi David has issued his own contributions based on Rabbi Hutner's thoughts known as "Ma'amarei Pachad Yitzchok" ("Talks/Teachings of Pachad Yitzchok").

Trans-Atlantic rosh yeshiva

Rabbi David resides in Jerusalem for most of the year, but he returns to Brooklyn for most of the Hebrew month of Nisan to celebrate Passover and for some of Tishrei to celebrate the start of Sukkot) and serves as rosh yeshiva at the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin during that time together with Rabbi Aaron Schechter.

See also

• List of rosh yeshivas