Background
Lerner was born as "Joel Lerner" in 1941 in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in South Africa.
Lerner was born as "Joel Lerner" in 1941 in Brooklyn, New York and grew up in South Africa.
In 1960, he immigrated to Israel and studied at the Hebrew University where he earned a Bachelor in Hebrew and Semitic Philology.
Lerner taught in many secondary educational institutions and translated essays and books His translations included The “Shabbes Goy”: A Study in Halakhic Flexibility (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1989)
In 1973, Lerner was arrested in a case of arson involving a fire in a shop selling Christian missionary books In 1975, Lerner was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to harm United States Secretary of Defense Henry Kissinger.
Newspaper reports said that Lerner "had expressed threats to assassinate Kissinger."
In 1978, Lerner was arraigned on charges of conspiracy and illegal possession of weapons.
Lerner called the group "," a Hebrew acronym for "redemption of Israel." Members were issued membership cards, given code names and assigned specific duties such as planning, organization, sabotage, and spying. Some allegedly received training in karate.
Lerner served a three-year sentence. In 1982, Lerner formed a small youth organization whose aim was to destroy the Dome of the Rock.
He allegedly organized a field trip to an army base in the south to steal explosives to be used in blowing up the Dome of the Rock.
He was sentenced to five years in jail, but 2 ½ years of his sentence was suspended. His purpose was to make it possible to rebuild the Temple Mount site. Mark Juergensmeyer identified Lerner as a Jewish religious terrorist, writing that he "yearned for a Jewish society in Israel.
He hoped for the restoration of the ancient temple in Jerusalem, the exclusive right of Jews to settle on the West Bank of the Jordan River, and the creation of a state based on biblical law.".