Yaaqov Medan

Yaaqov Medan (sometimes Ya'acov Medan) (Hebrew: יעקב מדן) (born 1950/5710/3263) is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi, co-Rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem, and a lecturer in Tanakh, gemara, and Jewish philosophy.

Yaakov Medan was a member of the first class at Yeshivat Har Etzion, and has lived in Gush Etzion since 1968.

Together with Rabbi Baruch Gigi, Rabbi Medan joined Rabbi Yehuda Amital and Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein as a Rosh Yeshiva on January 4, 2006.

His biblical analysis does not shy away from nuanced analysis of the patriarchs and other biblical figures in innovative commentaries on Tanakh, which combine lucid textual analysis with intimate knowledge of geographical and historical realia, and of a vast body of Jewish tradition. He has published book-length studies on Daniel, Ruth, and the Batsheva story. A much wider variety of lectures which he has given at Yeshivat Har Etzion have not yet been published in written form.

He was a partner in drafting the Gavison-Medan Covenant, a proposed constitution for the State of Israel which is intended to benefit Israel's secular and religious communities simultaneously (despite their disagreement on a number of issues).