Ovadia Yosef
| Rabbi Ovadia Yosef | |
|---|---|
Rabbi Yosef in 2007
|
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| Position | Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel |
| Organisation | Chief Rabbinate of Israel |
| Began | 1973 |
| Ended | 1983 |
| Predecessor | Yitzhak Nissim |
| Successor | Mordechai Eliyahu |
| Other | Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv Spiritual leader of the Shas political party |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | ‘Abdullah Youssef |
| Born | September 24, 1920 Baghdad, Iraq |
| Died | October 7, 2013 (aged 93) Jerusalem |
| Buried | Sanhedria Cemetery |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Denomination | Sephardi Orthodox Judaism |
| Residence | Jerusalem |
| Parents | Yaakov and Georgia Ovadia |
| Spouse | Margalit Fattal |
| Children | 11, including Yitzhak Yosef and Adina Bar-Shalom |
| Occupation | Author, Politician, Rabbi, Talmudic scholar and recognized halakhic authority |
| Alma mater | Porat Yosef Yeshiva |
| Semicha | Rabbi Ben Zion Hai Uziel |
| Signature |  |
Ovadia Yosef (Hebrew: עובדיה יוסף Ovadya Yosef, Arabic: عبد الله يوسف Abdullah Yusuf; September 24, 1920 – October 7, 2013) was an Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, a posek, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, and the founder and longtime 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."
Yosef was born in Baghdad, Ottoman Iraq on September 24, 1920 (or in 1918) to Yaakov Ben Ovadia and his wife, Gorgia. His Arabic name was ‘Abdullah Youssef. In 1924, when he was four years old, he immigrated to Jerusalem, Mandatory Palestine, with his family. In Palestine, the family adopted the surname "Ovadia". Later in life, Ovadia Yosef changed his surname to be his middle name, "Yosef", to avoid the confusion of being called "Ovadia Ovadia".
The family settled in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood of Jerusalem, where Yaakov operated a grocery store. The family was poor, and Yosef was forced to work at a young age. He learned in Talmud Torah B'nei Zion in the Bukharim quarter, where his passion and skill for Torah study was apparent. His literary career began already at age 9, with a commentary on Reshit Chochmah, which he penned in the margins.
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