Avraham Zvi (AZ) Thau is a rabbi listed as a member of staff at Bnei Akiva Schools, a chain of private Jewish high schools in Toronto. His bio on the school’s website states: “Raised in West Hempstead, New York, Rabbi Avraham Zvi (AZ) Thau is a graduate of DRS Yeshiva High School. Post-high school Rabbi Thau studied at Yeshivat Hakotel where, after one year, he made Aliyah and joined its Hesder program, serving in Shiryon (tank corps) of the IDF during Operation Protective Edge (Tzuk Eitan). While completing his studies at Hakotel, he served as Rosh Madrichim of the overseas students, Associate and Educational Director of the Hakotel Bergman Family Leadership Program, and Jerusalem Chapter Director of NCSY Israel. Rabbi Thau received his B.A. in Business and Management from Jerusalem College of Technology (Machon Lev) and his rabbinical ordination from World Mizrachi. He is excited to come to Toronto on shlichut with his wife Hadassah and their children.”
A January 2024 Instagram post from the school states that Thau had been “called back to Israel” as a reservist after Oct. 7, 2023, to rejoin the Israeli military.
Thau was also featured in a December 2023 video on the school’s YouTube page where he discusses his “army journey,” including details on his post-October 7 service in a tank unit. He states: “We have seen combat. We have been shot at. We are responding, kindly, thank god. A lot of machine gun bullets have been fired at them, and even some tank shells, which are always a blast. Pun intended.”
