Yehuda Getz

Who is Yehuda Getz?

Rabbi Yehuda Meir Getz was for 27 years the Rabbi of the Western Wall of Jerusalem.

Getz was born in Tunisia in 1924, and moved to Israel in 1949, living in the Kerem Ben Zimra moshav in Upper Galilee. He joined the Israel Defense Forces, rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel.

In response to the death of his son Avner in the Six-Day War, he moved to Jerusalem's Old City. Shortly afterwards he was appointed as overseer of prayers at the Western Wall.

Getz was supporter of Excavations at the Temple Mount. In July 1981, Getz and team of associates opened a tunnel under the Temple Mount near to where he believed the Ark of the Covenant previously in Solomon's Temple had been hidden, directly below the Holy of Holies of the Second Temple.

Getz died of a heart attack on 17 September 1995. He was survived by his wife and six children, and is buried at the Mount of Olives.