Yonasan David

David is married to Dr. Bruria David, the only child of Rabbi Yitzchok Hutner. David is often cited as a notable source within the Haredi world's intellectual circles.[1][2][3][4]

David became a disciple of Hutner when he enrolled at the Yeshiva Rabbi Chaim Berlin as a teenager.

In 1970 David and his wife accompanied her father and mother on a trip from New York to Israel. During their return flight on September 6, 1970, their plane was hijacked by members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The terrorists freed the non-Jewish passengers and held the Jewish passengers hostage on the plane for one week, after which the women and children – including David and his mother – were released and sent to Cyprus. During a press conference held on the airfield next to the hijacked planes, journalists were invited to interview several hostages, including David. He told the press that "the captives were being treated decently, but that the terrorists were circulating among their captives with biks (the Yiddish word for machine guns) in their hands".[5]

The hijacked airplanes were subsequently detonated, and the remaining 40-plus Jewish men – including Hutner, David, and two students accompanying Hutner, Rabbi Meir Fund and Rabbi Yaakov Drillman – and male flight crew continued to be held hostage, first in a refugee camp and then in safe houses in and around Amman, Jordan. On September 26, Hutner, David, and the students were released and flown to Nicosia, Cyprus. Israeli Knesset Member Rabbi Menachem Porush chartered a private plane to meet them in Nicosia, and reported that the men looked emaciated. On September 28, Hutner, David, their wives and students were flown back to New York via Europe, and were home in time for the first night of Rosh Hashana.[5]

David and his wife have edited the works of Hutner, known as Pachad Yitzchok ("Fear of Isaac").[6] They also compiled and published the official biography of Hutner, known as "Sefer HaZikaron" ("Book of Remembrance").[7] David edited a subsequent volume of Hutner's "Igros Ukesavim" ("Letters and Writings").[8][9] David has also released previously unpublished sermons of Hutner known as Ma'amarei Pachad Yitzchok ("Talks/Teachings of Pachad Yitzchok").[10]