Barkai is deeply honored that Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau shlit”a has agreed to become the President of Barkai, and the organization has already received the endorsement of highly respected Religious Zionist rabbis, including Rabbi Haim Drukman (Rosh Yeshiva of Or Etzion Hesder Yeshiva and Head of Bnei Akiva Youth Movement), Rabbi Yaakov Ariel (Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan), and Rabbi Nachum Rabinovitch (Rosh Yeshiva of Birkat Moshe Hesder Yeshiva, Ma’ale Adumim), as well as that of Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Natan Sharansky and MK Uri Orbach.
Natan Sharansky called Barkai’s initiative "Innovative and important...a significant contribution to the unity of the Jewish people". MK Uri Orbach said, “I have no doubt that training communal rabbis and strengthening their status as attentive, empathetic leaders can be revolutionary and bring tens of thousands of Jews closer to Judaism and intensify the Jewish experience of the Israeli public.”
