Avraham Yosef is the former chief rabbi of Holon and Sephardi representative on the Chief Rabbinate Council (Moetzet Harabbanut Harashit). [1] He stepped down from his positions after pleading guilty to breach of trust, after using his office to promote his family's financial interests. [2]
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Avraham Yosef is a son of Shas' spiritual leader, and former Israeli chief rabbi, Ovadia Yosef, [1] and a brother of rabbi Yaakov Yosef, a Jerusalem politician who was a member of the eleventh Knesset. [3] Yosef served for thirteen years in the Military Rabbinate and in 2013 would be the first choice of his father to be nominated for the position of Sepharadi chief rabbi but would pull out due to negative publicity concerning a 2010 ruling on judges joining a prayer minyan. [4]
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Nissim Leon, of Bar-Ilan University, researches the Shas movement and says that Avraham Yosef is a new rising star worthy of note for the political party. Leon states that, "Rabbi Avraham Yosef is building up his reputation using a similar method to his father's, combining halakhic rulings with lectures and classes for large audiences. Among other things, he is a very popular halakhic arbiter on the Haredi radio station Kol Chai." [5]
In 2015, Yosef was indicted for fraud and breach of trust over allegations that he had used his position as chief rabbi to advance the business interests of his family's kosher food certification. [6] Yosef was convicted for breach of trust in 2017, for forcing local businesses to use his family's certification. [7] He had reached a plea agreement with the prosecution to resign all his communal offices, and not to take another public position for 7 years after his conviction. [8]
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During 2007, Sephardic and Ashkenazi rabbis were at odds over whether to allow the sale of fruit and vegetables during shmita. [9] Later in the year, the Chief Rabbinate set up a special body, headed by rabbis Ze'ev Weitman and Avraham Yosef to implement heter mechira. [10]
Shas is a Haredi religious political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 under the leadership of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until his death in October 2013, it primarily represents the interests of Sephardic and Mizrahi Haredi Jews.
Ovadia Yosef was an Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, a posek, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, and a founder and long-time spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Shas party. Yosef's responsa were highly regarded within Haredi circles, particularly among Mizrahi communities, among whom he was regarded as "the most important living halakhic authority".
Shlomo Moshe Amar is the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel. He served in the position of Rishon LeZion from 2003 to 2013; his Ashkenazi counterpart during his tenure was Yona Metzger. In 2014 he became the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem.
Yona Metzger is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and the former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. In 2013, while chief rabbi, a fraud investigation was opened. Metzger later pleaded guilty to a number of corruption charges, was tried and convicted, and after a plea bargain was rejected, served prison time.
Avraham Shapira was a prominent rabbi in the Religious Zionist world. Shapira had been the head of the Rabbinical court of Jerusalem, and both a member and the head of the Supreme Rabbinic Court. He served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1983 to 1993. Shapira was the rosh yeshiva of Mercaz haRav in Jerusalem, a position he held since Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook died in 1982.
Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron was an Israeli rabbi who served as Rishon LeZion from 1993 to 2003. Prior to that he served as Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Bat Yam and Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Haifa.
Eliyahu Yosef She'ar-Yashuv Cohen was the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Israel and the President of its rabbinical courts (1975–2011).
Yisrael Rosen was an Orthodox Israeli rabbi. He founded the office for conversion to Judaism in the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and he was a judge there. He was also director of the Zomet Institute for the interface of halakhah and technology and the editor-in-chief of the annual journal Techumin published by that institute. He edited the weekly newsletter Shabbat B'Shabbato and wrote a weekly column therein. He wrote commentaries about the Rabbinic interpretations of Tanakh.
Rabbi Haim (Emile) Amsalem is an Israeli politician and a former member of the Knesset. Following a rift between him and his former party Shas, he established the Am Shalem party to run for the 2013 Knesset elections, but failed to win any seats.
Ya'akov Yosef was an Israeli rabbi and politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Shas between 1984 and 1988.
Yitzhak Yosef is an Israeli Haredi rabbi. The Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, he also serves as the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Hazon Ovadia in Jerusalem's Romema neighbourhood.
Sephardic Haredim are Jews of Sephardi and Mizrahi descent who are adherents of Haredi Judaism. Sephardic Haredim today constitute a significant stream of Haredi Judaism, alongside the Hasidim and Lita'im. An overwhelming majority of Sephardic Haredim reside in Israel, where Sephardic Haredi Judaism emerged and developed. Although there is a lack of consistency in many of the statistics regarding Haredim in Israel, it is thought that some 20% of Israel's Haredi population are Sephardic Haredim. This figure is disputed by Shas, which claims that the proportion is "much higher than 20%", and cites voting patterns in Haredi cities to support its position.
Amram Aburbeh, also spelled Abourabia and Aburabia, was the Chief Rabbi of the Sephardic congregation in Petah Tikva, Israel and author of Netivei Am, a collection of responsa, sermons, and Torah teachings.
Yaakov Hai Zion Ades, also spelled Adas or Adess, was a Sephardi Hakham, Rosh Yeshiva, and Rabbinical High Court judge. As rosh yeshiva of Porat Yosef Yeshiva in Jerusalem, he raised thousands of students, including Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel; Rabbi Ben Zion Abba Shaul, rosh yeshiva of Porat Yosef; and Rabbi Yehuda Hakohen Rabin, Chief Rabbi of Bukharan Jewry in Israel.
Moetzet Chachmei HaTorah is the rabbinical body that has the ultimate authority in the Israeli ultra-Orthodox Sephardic and Mizrahi Shas Party.
Badatz Beit Yosef is a kosher certification that is widely used by Sephardic and other Jews in Israel. Badatz Beit Yosef follows the guidelines set by Rabbi Yosef Caro. In Israel, an estimated 70 percent of restaurants use the Badatz Beit Yosef standard. Badatz Beit Yosef was the first kosher-certifying organization to certify cigarettes for Passover. Badatz Beit Yosef is the leader in kosher slaughter of chicken for Orthodox Jews in Israel.
Yaakov Eliezer Kahana Shapira is the rosh yeshiva of the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva in Jerusalem and a member of the Chief Rabbinate Council.
Elections for the positions of Chief Rabbis of Israel were held at the Leonardo Hotel in Jerusalem on 24 July 2013. The elections were to elect the chief rabbis for the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities.
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Chitrik, better known as Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, is an American, Israeli, and Turkish Rabbi of the Ashkenazi Jewish community of Turkey since 2003. He became the chairman of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States in 2019.
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