Reuven Rivlin

Reuven "Ruvi" Rivlin (born 9 September 1939) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the tenth President of Israel from 2014 to 2021. A lifelong member of the Likud party, Rivlin was elected to the Knesset in 1988, served on key committees including Foreign Affairs and Defense, and held ministerial roles such as Director-General of the Ministry of Communications. He chaired the Jerusalem City Council in the 1990s and advanced to Speaker of the Knesset, where he emphasized institutional independence from executive influence during his tenures from 2003–2006 and 2009–2013.

Born in Jerusalem to a prominent family with deep roots in the city dating back to the early 19th century, Rivlin's father, Yosef Yoel Rivlin, was a noted scholar of Semitic languages. Trained as a lawyer at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rivlin also chaired the Beitar Jerusalem football club, reflecting his engagement in sports and community affairs aligned with Likud traditions. His political ideology combines staunch support for Israeli sovereignty over Judea and Samaria with advocacy for equal civil rights for Arab Israelis and criticism of discriminatory policies, often positioning him as a principled conservative voice promoting democratic norms amid societal fractures.

Rivlin's father, Yosef Yoel Rivlin, was an Orientalist scholar and professor of Semitic languages at Hebrew University, renowned for translating the Quran and One Thousand and One Nights into Hebrew, which influenced his son's fluency in Arabic. His mother, Rachel "Ray" Rivlin, came from a Chabad Hasidic background and served as a community activist, organizing large family Passover Seders in their home. Yosef adhered to Mitnaged (non-Hasidic) traditions, reflecting a blend of religious and scholarly influences in the household.

Reuven Rivlin was born on September 9, 1939, in Jerusalem to Yosef Yoel Rivlin, a prominent Orientalist scholar and professor at Hebrew University who translated the Quran into Hebrew, and Rachel "Ray" Rivlin, whose family had deep roots in Jerusalem's Jewish community. The Rivlin family traces its lineage back over 450 years to Vienna in 1550 and includes descendants of students of the Vilna Gaon, with continuous residence in Jerusalem since 1809. Rivlin's paternal grandfather, also named Reuven Rivlin, served as the last secretary of the Keneset Yisrael general council.

Rivlin's first marriage produced one son, while his second marriage to Nechama Shulman in 1971 yielded three children: daughters Rivka and Anat, and son Ran. Nechama, born in 1945 on Moshav Herut, worked for decades at the Hebrew University botany department and later as a scientific illustrator, maintaining a low public profile despite her husband's political career. The couple resided in a modest Jerusalem apartment, reflecting Rivlin's preference for simplicity amid his family's historic ties to the city.