Former Jerusalem chief rabbi Aryeh Stern dies at 81

By Rossella Tercatin

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7 May 2026, 10:25 am

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Rossella Tercatin is The Times of Israel's archaeology and religions reporter.

Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern, at Rabbi Kook Museum, in Jerusalem on March 5, 2018. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

Former Jerusalem chief rabbi Aryeh Stern has died at age 81.

Stern, a leading figure in the Religious Zionist community, was a close student of one of its founding figures, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook, and later taught in some of the movement’s flagship religious institutions, including Yeshivat Merkaz Harav in Jerusalem.

Stern served in the army and fought in both the Six Day War in 1967 and the Yom Kippur War in 1973, according to Hebrew media reports.

In 2014, he was appointed Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Jerusalem and remained in the position until 2019.

“Jerusalem was blessed to have Rabbi Aryeh Stern, of blessed righteous memory, and absorbed from his great Torah scholarship and his noble character,” Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion says in a statement. “During his years serving as the city’s rabbi, Rabbi Aryeh Stern led Jerusalem through his conduct, humility and halachic [Jewish law] rulings, leaving a deep impact on the spiritual life of the capital.”