"Chief rabbinate" redirects here. See also Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
Chief Rabbi (Hebrew: רב ראשי, romanized: Rav Rashi) is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, Israel has had two chief rabbis, one Ashkenazi and one Sephardi.[1]
Cities with large Jewish communities may also have their own chief rabbis; this is especially the case in Israel but has also been past practice in major Jewish centers in Europe prior to the Holocaust. North American cities rarely have chief rabbis. One exception however is Montreal, with two—one for the Ashkenazi community, the other for the Sephardi.
Jewish law provides no scriptural or Talmudic support for the post of a "chief rabbi." The office, however, is said by many to find its precedent in the religio-political authority figures of Jewish antiquity (e.g., kings, high priests, patriarchs, exilarchs and geonim).[2] The position arose in Europe in the Middle Ages from governing authorities largely for secular administrative reasons such as collecting taxes and registering vital statistics, and for providing an intermediary between the government and the Jewish community, for example in the establishment of the Crown rabbi in several kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, the rab de la corte in the Kingdom of Castile or the arrabi mor in the Kingdom of Portugal, likely influenced by the expectations of their Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican governments and neighbors.[3] Similarly, in the 19th century there was a Crown rabbi of the Russian Empire.[4]
^Cameron Brown. "Rabbi Ovadia Yosef And His Culture War in Israel". Meria.idc.ac.il. Archived from the original on 29 October 2011. Retrieved 9 November 2011.
^"Judaism: The Chief Rabbinate". The Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise (AICE). Retrieved 4 June 2020.
^Himelstein, Shmuel (2011). "Chief Rabbinate". In Berlin, Adele (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of the Jewish Religion (2nd ed.). Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press. p. 166. ISBN 978-0-19-973004-9. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
^Kaplan Appel, Tamar, ed. (3 August 2010). "Crown Rabbi". The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300119039. OCLC 170203576. Archived from the original on 27 March 2015. Retrieved 31 May 2015.
ChiefRabbi (Hebrew: רב ראשי, romanized: Rav Rashi) is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish...
ChiefRabbi of Russia (Hebrew: הרב הראשי לרוסיה) is the leader of the Jewish communities in Russia since 1990. Currently there are two ChiefRabbis of...
supreme rabbinic authority for Judaism in Israel. The Chief Rabbinate Council assists the two ChiefRabbis, who alternate in its presidency. It has legal and...
The position of ChiefRabbi of Jerusalem was instituted centuries ago and was originally held by a member of the Sephardic community. Moses Galante served...
is an Orthodox rabbi who serves as the ChiefRabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. He served as the ChiefRabbi of Ireland between...
This is a list of prominent rabbis, Rabbinic Judaism's spiritual and religious leaders. See also: List of Jews. Yohanan ben Zakkai (1st century CE) 1st-century...
following list of chiefrabbis of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth gives information regarding the ChiefRabbi of the United Synagogue...
the council are: Rabbi David Lau—the Ashkenazi ChiefRabbiRabbi Yitzhak Yosef—the Sephardi ChiefRabbiRabbi Shimon Elituv—ChiefRabbi of Mateh Binyamin...
Rabbi Haim Moussa Douek (1905–August 21, 1974) (Hebrew: חיים דוויך / Arabic: حايم دويك) was the last ChiefRabbi of Egypt. Born into a Kohanim family of...
and Rabbis of "Yishuv haYashan" (the old – pre-Zionist – Jewish settlement) together with Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, the first Ashkenazi ChiefRabbi, and...
The ChiefRabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of Great Britain and the Commonwealth is the senior rabbi of the United Synagogue, a union of British...
1968. Subsequently, he served as ChiefRabbi of Tel Aviv–Jaffa between 1968 and his 1972 election as the ChiefRabbi of Israel; the third Ashkenazi Jew...
This list of Sephardi chiefrabbis of the Land of Israel documents the rabbis who served as the spiritual leader of the Sephardic community in the Land...
Hebrew-language acronym Hara'ayah (הראי״ה), was an Orthodox rabbi, and the first Ashkenazi ChiefRabbi of British Mandatory Palestine. He is considered to be...
October 7, 2013) was an Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar, a posek, the Sephardi ChiefRabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983, and a founder and long-time spiritual leader...
rabbis include: Shlomo Goren (former Ashkenazi ChiefRabbi of Israel); Chaim David Halevi (former ChiefRabbi of Tel Aviv and Yafo); Dov Lior (Rabbi of...
City of Jerusalem. These rabbis include: Rabbis Yona Metzger (Ashkenazi ChiefRabbi of Israel); Shlomo Amar (Sephardi ChiefRabbi of Israel); Ovadia Yosef...
יוסף; born (1952-01-16)January 16, 1952) is an Israeli Haredi rabbi. The Sephardi ChiefRabbi of Israel, he also serves as the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Hazon...
of chiefrabbis of Iran gives information regarding the ChiefRabbi of the mainstream majority Orthodox Persian Jewish community of Iran. The Chief Rabbi...
Rabbi Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and Rabbi Yitzchok Yerucham Diskin (son of Rabbi Yehoshua Leib Diskin) in 1921, prior to the establishment of the Chief Rabbinate...
family moved to Yekatrinoslav (today, Dnipro), where Rabbi Levi Yitzchak was appointed ChiefRabbi of the city. He served until 1939, when he was exiled...
objection to IDF chiefrabbi appointment". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. Retrieved 11 January 2017. "Rabbi Eyal Karim sworn in as IDF chiefrabbi". The Jerusalem...
A rabbi (/ˈræbaɪ/) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as semikha—following...
Ashkenazi ChiefRabbi of Israel. He was appointed after achieving a majority of the vote on 24 July 2013. He previously served as the ChiefRabbi of Modi'in-Maccabim-Re'ut...
Emmeline and Berman Bernays. Her paternal grandfather Isaac Bernays was a ChiefRabbi of Hamburg. Martha Bernays was raised in an observant Orthodox Jewish...
Global Information