Born in Vienna, Austria,[5][6] Piron was the only child of Viennese religious Jewish parents of Eastern European origins. He grew up in the Leopoldstadt, and first went to a religious Jewish school and later to the Sperlgymnasium. He left Vienna for Palestine on 28 October 1938 with the Youth Aliyah and joined its agricultural school Mikveh Yisrael.[5] After a year and a half, he enrolled in YeshivatMercaz HaRav Kook, studying under rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook. In 1946 he married Ahuva Gardi and settled in Jerusalem.[2] In 1952 he was ordained as a rabbi.[5]
Piron served in the IDF since 1948, becoming second-in-command to chief military rabbi Shlomo Goren and succeeding him in 1969.[2] He died in Jerusalem on 28 May 2014.[7]
Controversy
Rabbi Piron officiated at the wedding of Chanoch Langer. The disputed legitimacy of this wedding was settled in 1972 with "The Brother and Sister verdict" of Rabbi Goren as chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, a years-long case that made front-page headlines in Israel.[citation needed]