HARAV NERIA
Rabbi Moshe-Zvi Neria (Hebrew: משה צבי נריה) was an educator, writer, rosh yeshiva, and Knesset member. Rabbi Neria established and headed the Bnei Akiva yeshiva in Kfar Haroeh, and was one of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook's most influential disciples. Due to his far-reaching influence on Religious Zionism, he is known as "the father of the kippah sruga generation."
Born in Łódź in the Russian Empire (today in Poland), Rabbi Neria was educated at yeshivot in Minsk and Shkloŭ. He made Aliyah in 1930, and studied at the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva with Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, receiving certification as a rabbi.
He helped establish the Bnei Akiva youth movement, and edited its publication Zra'im. In 1940 he established the first Bnei Akiva yeshiva in Kfar Haroeh, serving as its headmaster and teaching Talmud and Jewish thought. He later established several yeshiva high schools and Hesder yeshivas for IDF soldiers. In addition, he founded the Hapoel HaMizrachi Rabbinical Association. In 1969 he was elected to the Knesset on the National Religious Party list for one term. He left the party in 1983 to establish the Religious Zionist Camp (also known as Mazad).
Rabbi Neria died on the 19th of Kislev, 5756 (1995), at the age of 82. Rabbi Neria and his wife Rachel had eight children.
His last words were:
"Give me kedushah (holiness), it is kedushah that I seek! The holiness of the Land of Israel, the holiness of the love of Israel, the holiness of the Nation of Israel."
