Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau is the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. Previously, he served as the Israeli Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi from 1993 to 2003. Rabbi Lau was born on June 1, 1937, in Poland. In 1945, Lau was freed from the Buchenwald concentration camp. His entire family was murdered with the exception of his older brother, his half brother, and his uncle. Lau immigrated to Israel in July 1945, and he became a rabbi in 1971.
He is married to the daughter of the former Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv. He served as chief rabbi in Netanya from 1978 to 1988. He wrote a memoir about his experiences in the Holocaust entitled Do Not Raise Your Hand Against the Boy, released in 2000 on the 55th anniversary of Buchenwald's liberation.