David Weiss Halivni was a European-born American-Israeli rabbi, scholar in the domain of Jewish sciences, and Professor of Talmud. He served as Reish Metivta of the Union for Traditional Judaism's rabbinical school.
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".
The Beta Israel, or Ethiopian Jews, are an African community of the Jewish diaspora. They coalesced in the Kingdom of Aksum and the Ethiopian Empire, which is currently divided between the Amhara Region and Tigray Region in modern-day Ethiopia. After the founding of the State of Israel in 1948, most of the Beta Israel immigrated to Israel or were evacuated from Africa through several initiatives by the Israeli government.
Yosef Shalom Elyashiv was a Haredi rabbi and posek who lived in Jerusalem. Until his death at the age of 102, Rav Elyashiv was the paramount leader of both Israel and the Diaspora Lithuanian-Haredi community, and many Ashkenazi Jews regarded him as the posek ha-dor, the contemporary leading authority on halakha, or Jewish law.
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.
Sar Shalom Sharabi, also known as the Rashash, the Shemesh or Ribbi Shalom Mizraḥi deyedi`a Sharabi (1720–1777), was a Yemenite Rabbi, Halachist, Chazzan and Kabbalist. In later life, he became the Rosh Yeshiva of Bet El Yeshiva in the Old City of Jerusalem. His daughter married Rabbi Hayyim Abraham Gagin of Jerusalem, making him the great-great-grandfather of Shem Tob Gaguine, the "Keter Shem Tob." His son was Yitzhak Mizrahi Sharabi and his grandson was Chief Rabbi Chaim Abraham Gagin.
Zablon Simintov, also known as Zebulon Simentov, is an Afghan Jewish former carpet trader and restaurateur. Between 2005 and his evacuation from Afghanistan to Israel in 2021, he was widely believed to be the only Jew still living in Afghanistan. He was also the caretaker of and lived in the Kabul synagogue, the only synagogue in the capital city of Kabul. On 7 September 2021, shortly after the Taliban takeover, he left Afghanistan with the help of a private security company organized by Israeli American businessman Mordechai Kahana and Rabbi Moshe Margaretten from the Tzedek Association. A month later, it was discovered that Simentov may not have been the last Jew living in Afghanistan; a distant relative of Simintov, Tova Moradi, fled Afghanistan for Albania in October 2021 with her twenty grandchildren.
David Hartman was an American-Israeli leader and philosopher of contemporary Judaism, founder of the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, Israel, and a Jewish author.
Daniel Sperber is a controversial British-born Israeli academic and Orthodox Jewish rabbi. He is a professor of Talmud at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, and an expert in classical philology, history of Jewish customs, Jewish art history, Jewish education, and Talmudic studies.
Sigd, also Mehlella or Amata Saww, is one of the unique holidays of the Beta Israel community, and is celebrated on the 29th of the Hebrew month of Marcheshvan. Since 2008, it has been an official Israeli state holiday.
Noahidism or Noachidism is a monotheistic Jewish religious movement aimed at non-Jews, based upon the Seven Laws of Noah and their traditional interpretations within Orthodox Judaism.
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is a philanthropic organization founded in 1983 by Yechiel Eckstein whose stated mission is to promote understanding and cooperation between Jews and Christians, and provide humanitarian aid for the State of Israel. Since 2019, Yael Eckstein has been serving as The Fellowship's President and CEO.
A halachic state is a Jewish state that endorses Judaism in an official capacity and derives most or all aspects of governance from halakha.
Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpo, also Sholom Ber Wolpe, is a rabbi and an Israeli political activist. Wolpo is the author of more than forty books.
Dov Lior is an Israeli Orthodox rabbi and political figure part of a far-right, nationalist movement for an ethnic and religious state. He served as the Chief Rabbi of Kiryat Arba, a Jewish settlement near the West Bank town of Hebron, until late 2014. He is the dean of the Kiryat Arba IDF-Hesder Yeshiva and leads the council of rabbis for the West Bank settlements. Lior founded the hard-right Tekumah party together with Arutz 7's owner Rabbi Zalman Melamed and Rabbi Chaim Steiner.
Shalom Hartman Institute is a Jewish research and education institute based in Jerusalem, that offers pluralistic Jewish thought and education to scholars, rabbis, educators, and Jewish community leaders in Israel and North America. The institute aims to promote pluralism and liberal values in Israel and the Jewish diaspora and to preserve the democratic character of Israel. Hundreds of rabbis and Jewish lay leaders from North America attend the institute's programs each year.
Ono Academic College is a private college located in Kiryat Ono, Israel with over 18,000 students.
Ethiopian Jews in Israel are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants from the Beta Israel communities in Ethiopia who now reside in Israel. To a lesser, but notable, extent, the Ethiopian Jewish community in Israel is also composed of Falash Mura, a community of Beta Israel which had converted to Christianity over the course of the past two centuries, but were permitted to immigrate to Israel upon returning to Israelite religion—this time largely to Rabbinic Judaism.
Rabbi Moshe Havlin is the Chief Rabbi of southern Israeli town of Kiryat Gat. Since March 2012 he is also the interim Rabbi of Sderot.
Ratzon Halevi Arusi is the Chief Rabbi of the city of Kiryat Ono, Israel, member of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, Founder and chairman of the organization Halichot Am Yisrael, and President of Machon Mishnat Ha-Rambam. He has a PhD in law from Tel Aviv University, and was a lecturer in Mishpat Ivri at Bar Ilan University. He is the winner of the Katz Prize for 2019. He is considered the primary disciple of Rabbi Yosef Qafih (Kapach).
