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".
Yisrael Meir Lau served as the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Israel, and chairman of Yad Vashem. He previously served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1993 to 2003.
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.
Mordechai Tzemach Eliyahu, was an Israeli rabbi, posek, and spiritual leader.
Moshe Alshich Hebrew: משה אלשיך, also spelled Alshech, (1508–1593), known as the Alshich Hakadosh , was a prominent rabbi, preacher, and biblical commentator in the latter part of the sixteenth century.
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.
Moshe Feinstein was an American Orthodox rabbi, scholar, and posek. He has been called the most famous Orthodox Jewish legal authority of the twentieth century and his rulings are often referenced in contemporary rabbinic literature. Feinstein served as president of the Union of Orthodox Rabbis, Chairman of the Council of the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of the Agudath Israel of America, and head of Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem in New York.
Live and Become is a 2005 French drama film about an Ethiopian Christian boy who disguises himself as an Ethiopian Jew to escape famine and emigrates to Israel. It was directed by Romanian-born Radu Mihăileanu. It won awards at the Berlin and Vancouver film festivals among others.
Moshe ibn Habib was the Rishon LeZion, Hakham Bashi and the head of a major yeshiva in Jerusalem.
Haim-Moshe Shapira was a key Israeli politician in the early days of the state's existence. A signatory of Israel's declaration of independence, he served continuously as a minister from the country's foundation in 1948 until his death in 1970 apart from a brief spell in the late 1950s.
Moshe Zemer was a Reform Rabbi in Israel between 1963-2011. He was the co-founder of Jewish Reform institutions in Israel and served in key positions in them, including as chair of MARAM, Board member of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, Board member of the Union for Progressive Rabbis in the United States, and a senior lecturer of Jewish Studies at the Hebrew Union College in Jerusalem.
Seth Farber is an American-Israeli Modern Orthodox rabbi, historian, and founder and director of the Jewish life advocacy organization, ITIM.
In Israel, a prisoner of Zion is a Jew who was imprisoned or deported for Zionist activity in a country where such activity was prohibited. The phrase is taken from words of Rabbi Judah Halevi: "Oh Zion, will you not ask after the welfare of your prisoners." The former Speaker of the Knesset, Yuli Edelstein, and the former Chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency, Nathan Sharansky, were both prisoners of Zion in the Soviet Union.
Gavriel Noach Holtzberg (Hebrew: גבריאל נח הולצברג; June 9, 1979 – November 26, 2008 was an Israeli American Orthodox rabbi and the Chabad emissary to Mumbai, India, where he and his wife Rivka ran the Mumbai Chabad House. He was also a religious leader and community builder for the local Jewish Indian community, and led the Friday-night Shabbat services at the Knesset Eliyahoo synagogue. Holtzberg and his wife were murdered during the 2008 Mumbai attacks perpetrated by Islamic militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Sandra Samuel is an Indian nanny who gained international recognition for rescuing a two-year-old Jewish boy named Moshe Holtzberg in Mumbai, India, during the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks. Samuel was employed as a caretaker at a Jewish outreach centre known as the Nariman House, which was targeted by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), an Islamic terrorist organization based in Pakistan; both of Holtzberg's parents were killed by LeT militants during the attack on the building. Following the incident, Samuel relocated to Israel with Holtzberg and was honourably granted full Israeli citizenship in 2010. Samuel resides in West Jerusalem and works at the local centre of ALEH, an Israeli foundation that provides rehabilitation services for disabled children and adults.
Rabbi Moshe-Zvi Neria was an Israeli educator, writer, and rosh yeshiva who served as a member of the Knesset for the National Religious Party between 1969 and 1974. Neria established and headed the Bnei Akiva yeshiva in Kfar Haroeh, and was one of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook's most influential disciples. Due to his far-reaching influence on Religious Zionism, he is known as "the father of the knit kippah generation."
Kaliv is a Hasidic dynasty founded by Yitzchak Isaac Taub (1744–1821) of Nagykálló, Hungary.
Zion Blumenthal Orphanage is an Orthodox Jewish orphanage and educational institution in Jerusalem. Founded in 1900, it is the oldest active orphanage in Israel.
The Diaspora Yeshiva Band was an Israeli Orthodox Jewish rock band founded at the Diaspora Yeshiva on Mount Zion, Jerusalem, by baal teshuva students from the United States. In existence from 1975 to 1983, the band infused rock and bluegrass music with Jewish lyrics, creating a style of music it called "Hasidic rock" or "Country and Eastern". The band was very popular on college campuses in the early to mid-1980s, and was well known in Jerusalem for its Saturday-night concerts at David's Tomb. It had a considerable influence on contemporary Jewish religious music, inspiring later bands such as Blue Fringe, 8th Day, Reva L'Sheva, Soulfarm, the Moshav Band, and Shlock Rock. Fifteen years after it disbanded, band leader Avraham Rosenblum revived the band under the name Avraham Rosenblum & Diaspora and produced several more albums.
