Nir Kiryat Arba yeshiva

Nir Kiryat Arba Yeshiva is a religious Zionist hesder yeshiva located in Kiryat Arba.

History of the Yeshiva
The yeshiva was established after the Six-Day War, in 1968, by Rabbi Eliezer Waldman and Rabbi Moshe Levinger. Its original location was in the military government building in Hebron, making it the first religious institution established in the Hebron Hills in this generation. Later, with the beginning of settlement in Kiryat Arba in the early 1970s, the yeshiva was reestablished in its current form. In December 1979, the yeshiva building was inaugurated in the presence of Prime Minister Menachem Begin. The yeshiva building was designed by architect David Cassuto.

In its first year, Rabbi Yehoshua Rosen headed the yeshiva, and he was later succeeded by Rabbi Waldman. In 1976, Rabbi Dov Lior was appointed the rabbi of Kiryat Arba and began delivering lectures at the yeshiva. From then until 2012, Rabbis Dov Lior and Eliezer Waldman jointly served as the heads of the yeshiva; Rabbi Lior focused on teaching Talmud and Halacha, while Rabbi Waldman concentrated on faith studies according to the teachings of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook.

In 2012, Rabbi Eliezer Waldman decided to retire from his position as head of the yeshiva and appointed his son, Rabbi Noam Waldman, as his successor. However, he continued teaching and served as the yeshiva's president until his passing in 2022. Following Rabbi Dov Lior's departure from Kiryat Arba in 2015, he also ceased his active role as head of the yeshiva.

Over the years, the yeshiva lost 22 of its students, including those killed in the 1980 terror attack near "Beit Hadassah" (in their memory, the settlement of Beit Hagai was established, and a memorial book named "Sefer Hagai" was published), as well as students who died in the Lebanon War.

During the evacuation of Yamit, the yeshiva relocated to a yeshiva operating in Yamit as a protest against the evacuation. In 2005, most of the yeshiva students, along with Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, moved to the settlement of Sa-Nur in northern Samaria to strengthen the settlement and attempt to prevent the Disengagement Plan. The yeshiva rabbis ruled that soldiers should refuse orders to evacuate the settlements.

In the third decade of the 21st century, Rabbi Noam Waldman heads the yeshiva, which has about 100 students and avrechim.

Academic programs at the Yeshiva
The yeshiva is closely affiliated with the "Merkaz Harav" stream. The yeshiva heads and many of its rabbis are graduates of Merkaz Harav Yeshiva and students of its heads, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook and Rabbi Avraham Shapira, who are referred to on the yeshiva's website as "Morenu VeRabenu" (Our teacher and our rabbi). The yeshiva especially emphasizes the study of Rabbi Kook's teachings according to his son Rabbi Zvi Yehuda's approach and includes a certain Hasidic element led by Rabbi David Potash.

Most yeshiva students serve in the IDF within the framework of the "hesder" program. The yeshiva also offers a high-level yeshiva program and a Halacha kollel, preparing its students for the rabbinical ordination exams of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, led by Rabbi Shalom Iluz, author of "Halacha Shlema."

The yeshiva operates a branch of Herzog College for teacher training.

Yeshiva Rabbis
The names of the ramim (teachers of Talmud) and faith instructors at the yeshiva are:


 * Rabbi Noam Waldman - Head of the Yeshiva
 * Rabbi Chaim Yerucham Smotrich (father of Bezalel Smotrich) - Ram of advanced classes
 * Rabbi Shalom Iluz - Head of the Halacha kollel
 * Rabbi David Pots - Faith instructor
 * Rabbi Abraham Isaac Schwartz - Rabbi of Kiryat Arba (son of Rabbi Chaim Avihu Schwartz) - Ram of second-year class
 * Rabbi Itamar Leshem (son-in-law of Rabbi Chaim Steiner) - Ram of military graduates
 * Rabbi Michael Hanuna (graduate of the yeshiva) - Ram of first-year class
 * Rabbi Yosef Tzairi - Ram of proficiency studies

Rabbis Dov Lior and Eliezer Waldman served as heads of the yeshiva.

Former teachers include: Rabbi Nissan Zakash, Rabbi Michael Hershkovitz, Rabbi Yoezer Ariel, Rabbi Moshe Boimel, Rabbi Yaakov Sharabi (son of Rabbi Saadia Sharabi), Rabbi Shalom Litov, Rabbi Mordechai Sternberg, Rabbi Hillel Horowitz, Rabbi David Samson, Rabbi Chananel Etrog, and Rabbi Yosef Carmel.

Settlement groups
The yeshiva is characterized by a significant emphasis on practical action for the Land of Israel. It has become one of the most prominent institutions advocating practical activities for this cause among all the yeshivot that emerged from the Merkaz Harav school. Many settlement groups originated from the yeshiva, with a significant number of settlements in southern Hebron Hills being established by its students, including Carmel, Maon, Susya, Beit Hagai, and other settlements in the Judean Hills, forming the basis for the settlement of Samaria, which is also filled with alumni founders.

Notable alumni
Rabbi Eitam Henkin - Rabbi, Torah scholar, and historian

Ze'ev Hever (Zambish) - Secretary General of Amana

Benny Katzover - Co-founder of the Gush Emunim movement

Zviki Bar Hai - Head of the Har Hebron Regional Council.

Yechiel Leiter - Chairman of the Israel Ports Company