Joel H. Golovensky (September 15, 1942 – February 2024) was a prominent Israeli-American lawyer, author, advocate, and Zionist activist. Born in New York City and raised in New Rochelle, New York, he came from a rabbinical family; his father was Rabbi Dr. David I. Golovensky and mother Muriel Margareten Golovensky. He earned a BA from the University of Pennsylvania in 1964, a JD from Harvard Law School in 1967, and an LLM from New York University School of Law in 1973. Golovensky practiced law as a partner in a Manhattan firm before making aliyah to Israel in the mid-1980s. He served as a lay leader in the Jewish Agency for Israel and on the Executive of the Joint Authority for Jewish Zionism. In 2005, he co-founded (with Israel Harel) the Institute for Zionist Strategies (IZS) in Jerusalem, serving as its founding president from 2004 until at least 2023; the organization was later renamed the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, where he remained an executive. IZS/Misgav focused on Zionist policy, including drafting an alternative Israeli constitution (not adopted), studying NGO foreign funding, and advocating for legislation like the Nation-State Law. Golovensky was involved in constitutional and Zionist policy development and authored numerous op-eds in outlets including The Jerusalem Post, Wall Street Journal, and Haaretz, addressing judicial reform, demographics, Jewish identity, and constitutional issues. A dual US-Israeli citizen, he resided in Jerusalem and married Myrna Louise Finston in 1966.