Rabbi Eran Tamir Says Torah of Israel Must Leave the Study Hall

In a special Channel 7 podcast, Rabbi Eran Tamir, head of the Ohr Yeshiva in Ashkelon, described how the war has accelerated a broader return to tradition in Israel. He said the country is moving “from instinct to awareness,” calling the past two and a half years part of the redemption process and insisting it is “a natural process” that cannot be stopped.

Tamir argued that Torah centers must also reach beyond their walls. He said, “It is important to go out to the people of Israel,” and warned that anyone who later drifts away from religious Zionism often did not study its ideas deeply enough. In his view, women’s and men’s study houses are essential in this generation, and women should ללמוד תורה, faith, ethics, and halakha in ways suited to their inner world and future influence on the next generation.

He traced the growth of his yeshiva, saying he and his wife, Elisheva, left Jerusalem after 13 years there and 13 years in Shavei Rachel because “Torat Eretz Yisrael cannot remain only inside the laboratory conditions of Jerusalem.” The goal was to build a yeshiva with outward impact, and that has produced women’s days, outreach to baalei teshuva, and programs for children and youth. Today the yeshiva has about 100 single students and roughly 25 married scholars, with major growth expected next year.

Tamir recalled the first months after October 7 as especially hard in Ashkelon, with most families lacking safe rooms, but said they returned within a week and studied in the shelter under the building. He described dancing outside after evening prayers with Israeli flags, while nearby residents waved from their windows. He also said 25 families from France are set to move to Ashkelon in the coming months, close to the yeshiva, and that the surrounding community now includes dozens of affiliated families.

The rabbi also spoke about meetings with kibbutz members from the Gaza envelope, which began soon after the war and continue today, and said they opened by agreeing on three basics, the unique virtue of Israel, unconditional love of fellow Jews, and self-sacrifice. He recounted showing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a note based on the Meshech Chochmah, and said his late brother-in-law, Elchanan Atali, once kept holy books in a box under his bed in expectation that a yeshiva would one day stand in City of David. Tamir said that yeshiva later did open, and the books are still there.