For 60 years they've been meeting together for joint study: The eldest of the religious Zionist rabbis, Rabbi Chaim Druckman, the President of the Or Etzion institutions, studies together with Rabbi Eliezer Waldman, head of the Nir hesder yeshiva in Kiryat Arba.
The "click" between happened in the Diaspora. "Among the members of Bnei Akiva who were all brought up to immigrate to the Land of Israel, which is the place of the people of Israel, I met one who lived this ideal and even had prepared to immigrate to Israel," Rabbi Druckman recalls.
The connection continued even after the immigration. "We studied at the same yeshiva and went for the same mission of educating the young people of Israel in this important direction as Rabbi Kook illuminated it and as he practically guided his eldest son, Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda.
"Our connection is beyond academic study; it's a partnership that has implications for the entire Jewish People in the reality in which we live," stresses Rabbi Druckman.
For a certain period the two even studied together at Yeshivat Or Etzion - and then Rabbi Waldman turned to his own mission. "On the one hand, I regretted that Rabbi Waldman was leaving Or Etzion, but I was happy that thanks to him, the Land of Israel was being settled."
Today and tomorrow the Nir Yeshiva in Kiryat Arba marks its 46th anniversary, and is embarking on a fund-raising campaign to continue the blessed work and educate other young people to deepen Torah study and implementation.
Rabbi Druckman calls on the public to take part and help. "The Kiryat Arba yeshiva over the years has raised generations to glory. One can see where its graduates are today, and their great contribution to the people of Israel."