Yaaqov Medan

Who is Yaaqov Medan?

Rabbi Yaaqov Medan is a co-Rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, and a lecturer in Tanakh, gemara, and Jewish philosophy.

He was a member of the first class at Yeshivat Har Etzion, and has lived in Gush Etzion since 1968. Together with Rabbi Baruch Gigi, Rav Medan joined Rabbi Yehuda Amital and Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein as a Rosh Yeshiva on January 4, 2006.

His biblical analysis does not shy away from nuanced analysis of the patriarchs and other biblical figures in innovative commentaries on Tanach, which combine lucid textual analysis with intimate knowledge of geographical and historical realia, and of a vast body of Jewish tradition. More Haredi circles dislike Medan's critical approach, and some even label his approach as blasphemous. He has published book-length studies on Daniel, Ruth, and the Batsheva story. A much wider variety of lectures which he has given at Yeshivat Har Etzion have not yet been published in written form.

He was a partner in drafting the Gavison-Medan Covenant, a proposed constitution for the State of Israel which is intended to benefit Israel's secular and religious communities simultaneously.