Page 14 - HaMizrachi Sukkot 5783 USA

A MAN OF ACTION:

The Extraordinary Life of
Haggai
Huberman
Rav Chanan Porat zt”l

orn in 1943, Rav Chanan the Nachal Brigade, then returned to arrived at the office of Prime Minister
Porat was only six months Kerem B’Yavneh and afterward went Levi Eshkol.
old when his parents became on to Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav, where “Nu, kinderlach,” said the prime min-
Bmembers of Kfar Etzion, a he received semichah and which left ister in his folksy, Yiddish-infused
newly established kibbutz between its own profound mark on him. It Hebrew, “what do you want?”
Beit Lechem and Chevron. The nanny was there that Chanan formed a deep
and teacher of the children at the personal connection with Rabbi Tzvi “We want to go home to Kfar Etzion,”
kibbutz was Deena Chovav of Kibbutz Yehudah Kook, the head of the yeshivah answered Chanan.
Massu’ot Yitzchak. Two decades later, and son of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak “Nu, kinderlach,” replied Eshkol, “you
Chanan would marry Deena’s daugh- Kook. want to pray there on Rosh Hashanah?
ter, Rachel. Go pray.”
Chanan was uprooted from his home Rosh Hashanah in Kfar Etzion That was the authorization for the
for the first time at the age of four. As the Six-Day War raged, even reestablishment of Kfar Etzion, the
In January 1948, with the start of the before the battles for Jerusalem had first Jewish community in liberated
War of Independence, the women and concluded, and at a time when he Judea and Samaria.
children of Kfar Etzion were evacuated did not yet know with certainty that Chanan was a founder of Yeshivat Har
to Ratisbonne Monastery in Jerusalem, Gush Etzion would be liberated by Etzion in Alon Shvut and the force
with plans to return home as soon as the IDF, the idea of reestablishing behind the initiative to bring
possible. That day would arrive only Kfar Etzion began percolat- Rabbi Yehuda Amital
nineteen years later. ing in Chanan’s mind. On to serve as its head.
the morning following the
After the War of Independence, the Later, Chanan was
uprooted families settled together in liberation of Jerusalem, his among the founders
brigade remained on a war
the Yafo neighborhood of Givat Aliyah. of Gesher, an organi-
The majority were fatherless, as most footing as the paratroopers zation whose mis-
readied themselves to join
of the men had fallen in the fighting sion is to
at Kfar Etzion. the battle on the Syrian front. bring
While they were preparing to
For high school, Chanan chose to travel to the Golan, the bar-
attend Yeshivat Bnei Akiva in Kfar rels of their guns still burning
HaRoeh, a choice that would greatly hot, Chanan, who was among
impact his future. Bright and studi- the paratroopers who liber-
ous, he captured the heart of Rabbi ated the Temple Mount and
Moshe Tzvi Neria, the Rosh Yeshivah of the Western Wall, asked his
the school, and the two quickly formed commander, Micha Chorin
a strong bond. One of the teachers at of Tirat Tzvi: “So, Micha, are
the school was Rabbi Moshe Levinger, you coming with us to Kfar
later Chanan’s stalwart partner in Etzion? We’re reestablish-
Gush Emunim. ing Kfar Etzion!”
In 1962, after graduating from Kfar On September 25, 1967,
HaRoeh, Chanan enrolled in Yeshivat several of the chil-
Kerem B’Yavneh, the first yeshivah to dren of Kfar Etzion,
combine military service with Torah accompanied by MK
study. He served as a paratrooper in Michael Hazani,
(PHOTO: RACHEL PORAT)
14 |