Until he was 30, Yehuda Meshi Zahav, an 11th-generation Jerusalemite and a distant cousin on his mother’s side to President Reuven Rivlin, was a staunch anti-Zionist in the forefront of violent demonstrations against Shabbat desecraters.
His mother’s family came from Lithuania at the beginning of the 19th century, and his father’s from Russia. The original surname was Zaidgold, which was translated into Hebrew. His father built the capital’s Mekor Haim neighborhood.
A born organizer with a charismatic personality and gift for public relations, Meshi Zahav, 58, is the grandson of Rabbi Yosef Sheinberger, who was one of the leaders of the virulently anti- Zionist Eda Haredit.
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