Hanan Spitzer (later Porat) was born in Kfar Pines during the Mandate era. In 1944, his family moved to Kfar Etzion. In early 1948, during the Arab riots of 1948, Kfar Etzion was besieged, and the children were evacuated to Jerusalem. Porat's father also moved there to arrange convoys. After the Kfar Etzion massacre, his family settled in Kfar Pines. Porat studied at the Bnei Akiva yeshiva high school, Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh, and the Mercaz HaRav talmudic college, and was ordained as a rabbi. He worked as a religious teacher at several yeshivas.