A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Monday, October 7, 2013

Shas Party Spiritual Leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, 1920-2013

Ovadia Yosef (Wikipedia)
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, spiritual leader of the Shas Party and one of the most powerful religious figures in Israel, died today at the age of 93.  Yosef. born in Baghdad in 1920, had served as Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, and established and presided over Shas' Council of Torah Sages; under his leadership Shas greatly enhanced the political power of the Sephardic haredi community and of Israel's Jews of Middle Eastern origin in general. He had been ailing for some time. Another obituary here.

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