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Days after burying yet another graduate killed in Lebanon, Rabbi Dr. Kenneth Brander sat down with the Jerusalem Post’s senior field reporter, Sam Halpern, to discuss leading one of Israel’s largest Modern Orthodox educational networks during its most painful chapter in a generation.
As president and rosh HaYeshiva of Ohr Torah Stone, Brander carries a staggering ledger: 26 students killed since October 7th, plus 39 first-degree relatives. His own son has logged over 400 days of reserve duty. A vice provost spends half his week at the office and half in Lebanon. The numbers shape every position Brander takes, and he does not soften any of them.
The rabbi argues bluntly that the Haredi refusal to serve violates clear halacha (Jewish law) and leaves “blood on the hands” of those who opt out while grandfathers fight in their place. He defends the rise of women in combat units as a moral consequence of that failure, condemns the soldiers who smashed a Jesus statue in Lebanon, and explains why his flagship schools reroute their Jerusalem Day march away from the Muslim Quarter.
“We’re not going to allow our ability to be sovereigns to make us bullies,” he tells Halpern. “It tarnishes the souls of my students.”
What lifts the interview above standard commentary is Brander’s willingness to defend his community fiercely and criticize it honestly in the same breath. He unpacks the dangerous misuse of “Amalek” by politicians and extremists, recounts the murder of one of his own students, and walks through the interfaith work taking him from Jerusalem to the UAE to Indonesia, alongside the mental health infrastructure his network built to catch the teachers, spouses, and emissaries falling outside the government’s safety net.
