Teacher: Rabbi Ari Shvat (Chwat)

Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat) is the director of Rav Kook’s archives, and is considered a world authority on his innovative writings and thought, lecturing in many colleges, seminaries and the Israeli Army Air Force. Raised in Riverdale, New York, he moved to Israel on his own at the age of 17, studied for many years at yeshiva, where he received rabbinical ordination and served as a sergeant in the IDF. Rav Ari is the author and co-author of 5 books, and has published over 200 articles in leading Judaic journals, dealing with the Bible, religious –Zionism and Jewish Thought & Law. He holds a B.A. in Bible and an M.A. in Jewish History and Talmud & is a popular international lecturer, having addressed hundreds of communities in Israel, Europe & North America. His teaching style has successfully deepened the connection with the Land, the People, the Bible and the State of Israel for thousands, through his warm personality, informal style, music, and a unique synthesis of high-level intellectual thought together with history and an internalizing emotional experience.