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Yehuda Meshi Zahav
Avraham Zvi Yehuda Meshi Zahav (Hebrew: יהודה משי זהב, Yiddish: יהודה משי זהב; 19 July 1959 – 29 June 2022) was an Israeli social activist, a member of the Haredi Jewish community, and founder and chairman of ZAKA.
In March 2021, it was revealed that Zahav was a prolific sex offender who had been abusing boys and girls throughout his career. Following these reports Meshi Zahav attempted to take his own life. He remained in a coma for over a year until he died on 29 June 2022.
Later investigations revealed Zahav had abused hundreds of people over decades on a nearly daily occurrence. At the same time he was carrying out financial fraud and repeated violent crimes including attempted murder. The journalist who first exposed his abuse said these crimes were facilitated by a widespread coverup that amounted to institutional complicity.
Avraham Zvi Meshi Zahav was born on 19 July 1959, to writer Menachem Saamson Mendel and Sara Zissel, daughter of Rabbi Yosef Scheinberger, the secretary of the Edah HaChareidis rabbinical court. He grew up in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood in Jerusalem, an 11th generation family living in Jerusalem. He studied in the Talmud Torah "Etz Chaim", and in the yeshivas "Tiferet Yisrael", "Ohel Yaakov" and "Torah Ore". Meshi Zahav resided in Givat Ze'ev and was married to Batsheva, with whom he had seven children. Between late 2020 and early 2021, Meshi Zahav lost his brother, who died of a serious illness, his father, and his mother, who died of COVID-19. Following allegations of sexual abuse, and the initiation of a police investigation in March 2021, Meshi-Zahav attempted suicide in April 2021 and remained in a coma until he died on 29 June 2022.
As a young man, he was one of the leaders of the Haredi community's protests against the State of Israel and its institutions. As a result, he said, he was detained by the police dozens of times. During this period, Meshi-Zahav was named "Kambatz (Operations Officer) of the Ultra-Orthodox Community". His nickname on the police radio network (which he used to listen to) was "13 Black".
Meshi-Zahav was the editor of the Haredi communities newspaper Ha'eda. With his brother Zvi, he published seven books on the struggles of the Haredi community in Israel.
During the attack on bus line 405 in 1990, Meshi Zahav arrived with other yeshiva boys to provide first aid to the victims. On his way home, he concluded that if in the enemy's view everyone is equal, so too for him. In the 1990s, he arrived at the scenes of suicide bombing attacks in Israel, among other things, and treated the bodies of those killed. As a result, ZAKA (Disaster Victim Identification) was founded. In his capacity as Chairman of ZAKA, he worked for inter-religious and secular reconciliation.
In 2003, he lit, as one of the founders of ZAKA, a beacon at the torch lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl. He was criticized by people in the Haredi community for this, in particular for declaring the ceremony "the glory of the State of Israel".
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Yehuda Meshi Zahav
Avraham Zvi Yehuda Meshi Zahav (Hebrew: יהודה משי זהב, Yiddish: יהודה משי זהב; 19 July 1959 – 29 June 2022) was an Israeli social activist, a member of the Haredi Jewish community, and founder and chairman of ZAKA.
In March 2021, it was revealed that Zahav was a prolific sex offender who had been abusing boys and girls throughout his career. Following these reports Meshi Zahav attempted to take his own life. He remained in a coma for over a year until he died on 29 June 2022.
Later investigations revealed Zahav had abused hundreds of people over decades on a nearly daily occurrence. At the same time he was carrying out financial fraud and repeated violent crimes including attempted murder. The journalist who first exposed his abuse said these crimes were facilitated by a widespread coverup that amounted to institutional complicity.
Avraham Zvi Meshi Zahav was born on 19 July 1959, to writer Menachem Saamson Mendel and Sara Zissel, daughter of Rabbi Yosef Scheinberger, the secretary of the Edah HaChareidis rabbinical court. He grew up in the Mea Shearim neighbourhood in Jerusalem, an 11th generation family living in Jerusalem. He studied in the Talmud Torah "Etz Chaim", and in the yeshivas "Tiferet Yisrael", "Ohel Yaakov" and "Torah Ore". Meshi Zahav resided in Givat Ze'ev and was married to Batsheva, with whom he had seven children. Between late 2020 and early 2021, Meshi Zahav lost his brother, who died of a serious illness, his father, and his mother, who died of COVID-19. Following allegations of sexual abuse, and the initiation of a police investigation in March 2021, Meshi-Zahav attempted suicide in April 2021 and remained in a coma until he died on 29 June 2022.
As a young man, he was one of the leaders of the Haredi community's protests against the State of Israel and its institutions. As a result, he said, he was detained by the police dozens of times. During this period, Meshi-Zahav was named "Kambatz (Operations Officer) of the Ultra-Orthodox Community". His nickname on the police radio network (which he used to listen to) was "13 Black".
Meshi-Zahav was the editor of the Haredi communities newspaper Ha'eda. With his brother Zvi, he published seven books on the struggles of the Haredi community in Israel.
During the attack on bus line 405 in 1990, Meshi Zahav arrived with other yeshiva boys to provide first aid to the victims. On his way home, he concluded that if in the enemy's view everyone is equal, so too for him. In the 1990s, he arrived at the scenes of suicide bombing attacks in Israel, among other things, and treated the bodies of those killed. As a result, ZAKA (Disaster Victim Identification) was founded. In his capacity as Chairman of ZAKA, he worked for inter-religious and secular reconciliation.
In 2003, he lit, as one of the founders of ZAKA, a beacon at the torch lighting ceremony on Mount Herzl. He was criticized by people in the Haredi community for this, in particular for declaring the ceremony "the glory of the State of Israel".
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