Israel Porath

Rabbi Israel Porath (1886–1974), born in Jerusalem, Ottoman Palestine, was an Orthodox rabbi and community leader in Ottoman Palestine and the United States. In Erets Yisrael, he studied at the Eẓ Ḥayyim Yeshivah, at Yeshivat Ohel Moshe, and after 1904, under the guideance of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Quq (Kook) in Jaffa. Rabbi Kook said of him that from all of his students he received the most pleasure from Rabbi Porath and Rabbi Jacob Ḥarlap. He received his semikhah from Rabbi Kook as well as from Rabbi Chaim Berlin and Rabbi Jacob David Willowsky (the Slutzker Rav). In 1906 he founded a spiritual center for young Torah scholars called Beit Va'ad le-Ḥakhamim and served as the principal and director of Doresh Ẓiyyon, a school system for Sephardi students. In 1911, he was selected as the Ashkenazi candidate for the position of Chief Rabbi. At the behest of the leadership of the yishuv he was encouraged to learn foreign languages and was sent to Constantinople to secure draft deferments for yeshivah students from the Turkish army. During World War I he was responsible for emergency welfare, food, and clothing in Jerusalem, in conjunction with the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. He participated in founding many new neighborhoods on the western side of Jerusalem, including Bayit ve-Gan. He left Mandate Palestine in 1922, first for Liverpool, England and then for the United States, to head an office for the Eẓ Ḥayyim Yeshivah, where he was joined by his family (in September 1923). He served as a rabbi at Congregation B'nai Israel in Plainfield, New Jersey, and in 1925 moved to Cleveland to become the rabbi of Congregation Oheb Zedek, where he served for 14 years. He then moved to Congregation Neve Zedek, and in 1945 went to New York to head the Rabbi Israel Salanter Yeshivah. He returned to Cleveland within the year where he was rabbi at the Cleveland Heights Jewish Center. In addition to his serving as one of the founders and chairman of the Orthodox Rabbinical Council of Cleveland (Merkaz Harabanim) he was active in the general Jewish community, including the Board of the Jewish Welfare Federation, the Board of Jewish Education, and B'nai B'rith. He was instrumental in the establishment of the Telz Yeshiva in Cleveland. He was an ardent Zionist and a member of the Mizrachi (Religious Zionists of America); he was honored by numerous Zionist organizations for his work on behalf of the State of Israel, including Bar-Ilan University and the Jewish National Fund. He served as the dean of the Cleveland rabbinate for more than 50 years. He wrote numerous scholarly articles on rabbinic literature. His major contribution was the Mavo ha-Talmud (seven volumes). A street is named for him in Jerusalem's Ramot neighborhood (Reḥov Harav Yisrael Porath). (Much of this bio is based on this article by Rabbi Porath's grandson, Rabbi Jonathan Porath.)

https://case.edu/ech/articles/p/porath-israel