# Tamir Granot

Tamir Granot (born 1970) is an Israeli Orthodox Jewish rabbi and author and the Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Orot Shaul, a hesder yeshiva located in southern Tel Aviv. He is also an expert on Jewish thought regarding the Holocaust.

## Early life and education

Granot was born in Ramat Gan and grew up in Kiryat Motzkin. For high school he attended Yeshivat Bnei Akiva Netiv Meir in Jerusalem. Afterwards, he began studying at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shevut, where he was a student of Rabbi Yehuda Amital and Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein. He studied there for nine years. During this time he also received a degree in education from Michlalah Jerusalem.
He completed his master's degree in Jewish philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, in parallel to his Torah studies, as well as his doctorate, which dealt with the rise of Hasidism after the Holocaust, focusing on Yekusiel Yehudah Halberstam, the Rebbe of Sanz-Klausenburg.

## Career

In the late 1990s, Granot began teaching at Herzog College in Alon Shevut and at Lifshitz College of Education in Jerusalem. He has taught gemara and Jewish thought at Midreshet Lindenbaum in Jerusalem and Migdal Oz in Gush Etzion. In 2006 he established the "Beit Midrash for Army Veterans" in Katzrin together with Itamar Alder and Moshe Egozi and, alongside them, stood at its head for four years. In 2010, Granot founded the communal "Beit Midrash for Torah and Life" in Haspin, which he headed.
In 2013, he became a Rosh Yeshiva at the Orot Shaul Hesder Yeshiva, a position he still holds together with Yuval Cherlow and Itamar Alder.
His Torah articles have been published in Megadim, Tevunot and Netuim. He also has a set column of writings on the weekly parshah in the Shabbat edition of the Israeli newspaper Makor Rishon.
On March 12, 2024, he delivered a speech regarding the lack of Haredi contribution to the Israeli army, a historically controversial issue in Israeli society, titled על גיוס בני הישיבות - קריאה לראשון לציון הרב יצחק יוסף שליט"א (Regarding the Enlistment of Yeshiva Students - A Call to the Rishon L'Tziyon, Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef shlit"a). During the Israel-Hamas War, there has been increased desire for Haredi participation in the army. Yosef wrote, "If [the government] forces us to go to the army, we’ll all move to chutz la'aretz (outside of Israel)". Granot's son had been killed towards the beginning of the war, and the call sought to bridge the gaps between communtieies, consistent with Rabbi Granot's work to promote unity among the people of Israel. The speech was published via Yeshivat Orot Shaul's YouTube page and subsequently translated into English as a video and article.

## Jewish theology regarding the Holocaust

One of Granot's main areas of focus is that of Jewish thought regarding the Holocaust. Over the course of two years he produced a series of articles on the topic on the Virtual Beit Midrash of Yeshivat Har Etzion. These articles were complied into a book titled Emunah V'adam L'nochach HaShoah (Faith and Man in the Face of the Holocaust), published in 2013.
Granot has explored the world of Hasidic music during and after the Holocaust, which culminated with his initiation of the "Music which Rose from the Ashes" Project - a show in which he, together with the band HaLev V'HaMaayan, teach and perform various songs that accompanied the Jews in those years. In 2014, the album I'll wait for him - a tune that emerged from the Shoah (Hebrew: אחכה לו - ניגון שעלה מן השואה) was published, which helps to preserve those tunes. Rabbi Granot has also produced other Jewish music as well.

## Personal life

He is married to Avivit Ben-Yosef, daughter of David Ben-Yosef, an Israeli educator and author. His son, Amitai Granot, a platoon leader in the 75th Battalion of the IDF's 7th Armored Brigade was killed by a Hezbollah missile attack on an IDF post bordering Lebanon on October 15 during the 2023 Israel-Hezbollah conflict, following the October 7 Hamas-led attack and massacre.

## Published works

* Granot, Tamir (2013). Emunah V'adam L'nochach HaShoah [Faith and Man in the Face of the Holocaust]. Alon Shevut: Hotsaʼat Tevunot, Mikhlelet Hertsog. ISBN 978-965-7086-57-5. OCLC 868687976.
** The book deals with the difficult and complex encounter between the Holocaust and religious belief. The first volume of the book deals with the philosophy and theology and brings a variety of religious sources. The second volume includes sermons, essays and descriptions of meetings to accompany the reader.
* Granot, Tamir (2020). Devarim: Emunah, Adam, Am [Deuteronomy: Faith, Humanity, Nation]. Jerusalem: Koren Publishers Jerusalem. ISBN 978-965-526-282-7. OCLC 1193589969.
** A book that offers a systematic approach to the question of the novelty and meaning of the book of Deuteronomy through a new reading by derech hapshat of the majority of its passages. It has a detailed interpretation and explanation of the entire book, comparisons to the other books of the Torah. The book also discusses the relevant messages for the contemporary member of Am Yisrael.
* Granot, Tamir (2022). Binat HaLev on Bereishit, Shemot and the Mo'adim. Koren Publishers Jerusalem.
** Hasidic articles on the weekly parshah and the holidays, based on the derashot from the book "Mei HaShiloach".
* Granot, Tamir (2023). Nishmat HaSugyah [Soul of the matter].