Yonasan David - Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin

Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin

A number of years prior to his passing in 1980, Rabbi Hutner officially announced that Rabbi Aaron Schechter and Rabbi Yonasan David would both serve as equal rosh yeshivas of the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin. This was done when the yeshiva moved to its location on Coney Island Avenue in 1966 and Rabbi Hutner declared to all present that henceforth Rabbis Schechter and David would both sit at the front of the main beth midrash (the main study hall of the yeshiva), with Rabbi Schechter sitting at the front right and Rabbi David at the front left, and with Rabbi Hutner sitting in the center. Even after the death of Rabbi Hutner, the center seat has been left empty as a kind of "holy spot", with Rabbi Schechter continuing to occupy the front right position. When Rabbi David returns for brief visits from Israel he assumes his position in the front left of the beth midrash. The seating arrangements reflect both Rabbi Schechter's and Rabbi David's positions of supreme authority within the totality of the yeshiva.