Yehuda Klein (later Amital) was born in
Oradea,
Romania, son of Yekutiel Ze'ev and Devora. After four years of secular primary education, he began religious studies with Rabbi Chaim Yehuda Levi. When
Germany occupied the area in 1944, the
Nazis sent his entire family to
Auschwitz where they were killed. Amital was sent to a
labor camp, thus surviving the
Holocaust. He remained in the labor camp for eight months, and was liberated on October 4, 1944, by the
Soviet Army. After his liberation, he made his way to
Bucharest, from where he travelled to
Mandatory Palestine, arriving on December 11, 1944. After a short stay at the
Atlit detainee camp, he made his way to
Jerusalem, where he studied at
Hebron Yeshiva, receiving
semicha from Rabbi
Isser Zalman Meltzer, whose granddaughter he later married. He also learned with Rabbi
Yaakov Moshe Charlap, a student of Rabbi
Avraham Yitzchak Kook. Around this time, he joined the
Haganah. After learning at
Hebron, he moved to
Pardes Hanna in order to learn at
Kletzk Yeshiva. While learning at the yeshiva, he married Miriam, the daughter of the Rosh Yeshiva, Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Meltzer, and the granddaughter of Rabbi Isser Zalman Meltzer. When the yeshiva relocated to
Rehovot, Amital followed, settling in Rehovot until he moved to Jerusalem in the 1960s. The day after the
Declaration of Independence, Amital's unit was mobilized in the
1948 Arab–Israeli War. He took part in battles of
Latrun and the western
Galilee. After the war, Amital became a rabbinic secretary in the
Beth Din of Rehovot, and, two years later, he became an instructor at Yeshivat HaDarom, where he helped formulate the idea of a
Hesder Yeshiva. After the
Six-Day War, he became the founding
Rosh Yeshiva of
Yeshivat Har Etzion, which he headed for 40 years. In 1978 he received the army rank of
Aluf. Rav Amital died on July 9 (27
Tammuz), 2010, and was laid to rest in the
Har HaMenuchot cemetery in Jerusalem, where thousands attended his funeral. ==Political career==