Rav Ari Shvat (Chwat) served for many years as Rosh Midrasha and director of both overseas and Israeli programs at the Michlelet Orot Israel College in Elkana and at Midreshet Harova in Jerusalem. Raised in Riverdale, NY, he did the Hesder program at the Ohr Etzion and Kiryat Arba yeshivot, where he received smicha and served as a sergeant in Tzahal.
Rav Ari is a popular international lecturer, has served on many international committees of Bnei Akiva, and has published 5 books (including editing some of the most recent of Rav Kook's previously unpublished works) and more than 150 halakhic and ideological articles in leading Torah journals. He holds a B.A in Tanach from Michlelet Ya'akov Herzog and an M.A in Jewish History and Talmud from Lander College in Israel. He enjoys utilizing his music as an educational medium and has produced two albums of original compositions.
Rav Shvat and his wife Tzvia have seven children and live in Kochav Hashachar.
