Yaakov Ariel (Hebrew: יעקב אריאל; born (1937-10-16)October 16, 1937) is the former chief rabbi of the city of Ramat Gan, Israel, and a cofounder of Gush Emunim (גוש אמונים, lit.'Bloc of the Faithful'), an Israeli ultranationalist organization. Ariel served as a rosh yeshiva in the abandoned Israeli settlement of Yamit in the Sinai Peninsula until 1982; the year he took the role is unknown.[1] Ariel is the president of the Ramat Gan Yeshiva, the roshei yeshiva of which are rabbis Yehoshua Shapira and Ben-Tzion Moshe Elgazi.[2] He also served as the rabbi of Kfar Maimon for roughly 25 years.[3]
