Meir Kahane

Rabbi Meir Kahane was born in New York City in 1932. He studied at the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn and was ordained in 1956. The same year, he completed New York Law School and later received a Masters degree in International Relations from New York University. After serving as a congregational rabbi, he found the Jewish Defense League in 1968 to combat anti-Semitism. Concerned about the alienation and assimilation of Jewish youth, Rabbi Kahane spent two decades touring American college campuses,...See more

Rabbi Meir Kahane was born in New York City in 1932. He studied at the Mir Yeshiva in Brooklyn and was ordained in 1956. The same year, he completed New York Law School and later received a Masters degree in International Relations from New York University. After serving as a congregational rabbi, he found the Jewish Defense League in 1968 to combat anti-Semitism. Concerned about the alienation and assimilation of Jewish youth, Rabbi Kahane spent two decades touring American college campuses, exhorting Jewish students to learn about Judaism, make Aliya to Israel, and to stand up proudly as Jews. In 1970 he spearheaded a campaign of Jewish activism which led to the emigration of tens of thousands of oppressed Jews from the Soviet Union. He entered the political arena in Israel when he made Aliya in 1971, and was a member of the Knesset in Israel from 1984 to 1988. He authored several best-selling books, including Never Again, Why Be Jewish and The Story of the Jewish Defense League. His widely-read columns appeared weekly in the Jewish Press from 1961 to 1990. See less