Ovadia Yosef

On January 13, 2013, Yosef collapsed during Shacharit at his synagogue in Har Nof, Jerusalem and was having difficulty using his left hand. After he was seen by a physician in his home, he was hospitalized at Hadassah Medical Center after suffering what was believed to be a minor stroke.

On 21 September 2013, because of his worsening health, Yosef was admitted to Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital. Two days after undergoing surgery for the implantation of a pacemaker on September 22, Yosef was sedated and placed on a respirator. He died in the hospital on 7 October 2013 after a "general systemic failure". His funeral in Jerusalem was the largest in Israel's history, with an estimated attendance of 850,000. Some religious authorities have stated that this was, perhaps, the largest in-gathering of Jews since the days of the Second Temple. However, other estimates put the number in attendance at the funeral lower, at between 273,000 and 450,000. He was buried beside his wife in the Sanhedria Cemetery. During the week-long shiva mourning period, Yosef's family were expected to receive thousands of condolence callers in a mourning tent set up on their Har Nof street, which police closed to vehicular traffic. Security guards were also posted at the cemetery, where Yosef's grave quickly became a pilgrimage site for thousands of men and women.

In 2013, Yosef called for yeshiva students to emigrate from Israel rather than agree to serve in the army, stating:

In October 2013, immediately following Ovadia Yosef's death, his son, David Yosef stated to the Prime Minister that the drafting of Haredi students into the army had hurt him in his final months more than his physical illnesses.

In 2010, Yosef and Shas' Moetzet Chachamei HaTorah (Council of [Wise] Torah Sages) approved Shas' membership in the World Zionist Organization, making Shas the first officially Zionist Haredi party in Israel.

Yosef drew criticism from the US State Department in August 2010 following a Saturday morning sermon in which he called for

In a sermon he delivered in October 2010, Yosef was strongly condemned (including, among others, by the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee) after stating that "the sole purpose of non-Jews is to serve Jews". In his sermon, he said:

In the 2007 Israeli Presidential election, Yosef endorsed his long-time friend Shimon Peres, who ultimately won the election due in part to the support of Shas's 12 MKs.

In April 2005, Israeli security services arrested three people whom the Shin Bet claimed were all members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). They were accused of plotting to kill Yosef. One of the three, Musa Darwish, was convicted on December 15, 2005 of Yosef's attempted murder, and of throwing firebombs at vehicles on the Jerusalem-Ma'aleh Adumim road. He was sentenced to twelve years in prison and three years probation. A second man, Salah Hamouri, proclaimed his innocence of the charges, but eventually accepted a plea bargain sentence of 7 years in exchange for admitting his guilt.

In 2005, Yosef repeatedly condemned the Gaza Disengagement. He argued that he was opposed to any unilateral action that occurred outside the framework of a peace agreement. Yosef again cited the principle of Pikuach Nefesh, saying that empowering the Palestinians without a commitment to end terror would result in threatening Jewish lives, particularly in areas near Gaza in range of Qassam rocket attacks. In contrast to some of his rabbinical colleagues, such as Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, Yosef refused to entertain the idea of holding a referendum on the disengagement, and instructed his MKs to vote against the plan when it came up in the Knesset.

Yosef made countless political remarks which aroused controversy. Statements deemed offensive relating to various groups and individuals were claimed by his supporters to have been taken out of context, although the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League condemned what they termed his "hate speech". He claimed the Holocaust was God's retribution against the reincarnated souls of Jewish sinners. He also claimed that Israeli soldiers were killed in battle on account of their non-observance of Torah law. He was criticised for supporting the traditional role of women and minimising their capabilities. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, he blamed the tragedy on U.S. support for the Gaza disengagement, and on a general lack of Torah study in the area where the hurricane occurred. In 2009, he said about Yisrael Beitenu and its leader "whoever votes for Avigdor Lieberman gives strength to Satan".

In a 2004 article by Maariv, Yosef was listed as one of the most influential rabbis in Israel. He was described as:

In February 1999, Yosef caused a controversy by strongly criticizing the Supreme Court of Israel:

The failure of the scheme, known as the stinking trick, was responsible for Peres' downfall as leader of Labour, and his 1991 defeat in internal elections to former Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin. From the 1980s until his death, Yosef approved the participation by Shas in most Israeli governments, except for the last two governments of Ariel Sharon from January 2003 and August 2005. In that Knesset (2003-2006), Shas was one of the few parties to have been in the opposition for the duration of that Knesset's term, along with the leftist Meretz party and the Arab factions Ra'am (United Arab List), Hadash, and Balad. This was largely because of the rise of Shinui to the powerful third party position, a position that was previously held by Shas. Shinui demanded the creation of a government without Shas.

In 1990, Yosef used his position as Shas spiritual leader to pressure Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir into agreeing to hold negotiations with Arab states for a peaceful settlement of the Arab–Israeli conflict. Shamir, a member of the Likud Party, refused to make any commitments.

In 1990, Rav Yosef pulled Shas out of the coalition with the Likud and attempted to form a partnership with Peres's left-centre Labour Party. The bold move, engineered but opposed by Shas chairman Aryeh Deri, backfired when the highly respected Ashkenazi rosh yeshiva (dean) of the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, Rabbi Elazar Shach (who subsequently founded the Degel HaTorah party) fiercely commanded Yosef to return Shas to the coalition with the Likud. During this time, Yosef was severely criticised by other major members of the Haredi religious community in Israel, particular the Ashkenazic Jews who generally sided with the Likud and the right in opposition to the perceived secularist tendencies of Labour and the left.

In 1984, Yosef founded the Shas party in response to minimal representation of Sephardic Jews in the Ashkenazi-dominated Agudat Yisrael. It has since become a formidable political force, becoming part of the coalition in most of the elected governments since. He later took a less active role in politics, but remained the party's spiritual leader until his death.

According to one biography of the rabbi, Ben Porat Yosef, the relationship between the two had never been comfortable because of Shamir's unstudious personality. As a way of gaining a character analysis of politicians, Yosef had invited both Shamir and Shimon Peres to learn Talmud with him. While Peres proved an engaging and fluid learner, Shamir was stoic toward the material, a trait that led Yosef to instead use one of Shamir's cabinet members, Housing and Construction Minister David Levy, as his key partner in dealing with the Likud. Levy had a relatively warm relationship with the rabbi due to his moderate approach to Israel's security and foreign affairs policies, his charismatic personality, and his connection with Sephardi traditions (Levy, a Moroccan, was the highest ranking Sephardi politician in the 1980s).

Despite his controversial public comments, Yosef had long been a rabbinical authority advocating peace negotiations in the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and had done so since the late 1980s. His main justification was the halakhic principle of Pikuach Nefesh, in which all the Jewish commandments (excluding adultery, idolatry, and murder) are put on hold if a life is put in danger. Using an argument first articulated by the late American rabbinical leader Joseph Soloveitchik, Yosef claimed that the Arab–Israeli conflict endangers human lives, thereby meeting the above criteria and overruling the priority of commandments pertaining to settling the land of Israel. Therefore, Israel is permitted—even obligated if saving lives is a definitive outcome—to make serious efforts to reach a peace settlement, as well as to make arrangements to properly protect its citizens. Yosef first applied the Pikuach Nefesh principle to Israel's conflicts with its neighbors in 1979, when he ruled that this argument granted Israel authority to return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt. Some claimed, however, that the ruling was also motivated by Yosef's desire to oppose his Ashkenazi colleague, Rabbi Shlomo Goren.

In 1973, Yosef was elected Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel by a majority vote of 81 to 68, replacing Yitzhak Nissim. His candidacy was criticised by some, as he was competing against an incumbent Chief Rabbi for the first time in the history of that office. The election process was characterised by tension and political controversy because of the Psak Din of the Brother and Sister and due to the tense relations between Yosef and Nissim. In the same election, Rabbi Shlomo Goren was chosen as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, the relationship with whom would prove to be difficult. The Council of the Chief Rabbinate was controlled by Goren, and for some time thereafter Yosef decided that there would be no point in attending its sessions.

In Yosef's opinion, the severity of Ashkenazi poskim results from their method of teaching, and a lack of familiarity with the Mishnah, Talmud and poskim. In a 1970 article Yosef wrote about Rabbi Jacob Saul Elyashar, he says:

Ovadia Yosef is often regarded as the pivotal force behind bringing Ethiopian Jews to Israel. In the 1970s, Yosef ruled that Ethiopian Jews were halachically Jewish and campaigned for the Ethiopian aliyah to Israel. Pnina Tamano-Shata said of Yosef: "I started crying, probably in gratitude to all that he's done, the humane form of address, 'our brothers.' He was also a leader. He called on the authorities to save Ethiopia's Jews and bring them to Israel. It shows his great love for others."

In 1970, Yosef was awarded the Israel Prize for Rabbinical literature.

Between 1958 and 1965, Yosef served as a dayan in the Jerusalem district Beth Din. He was then appointed to the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Appeals in Jerusalem, eventually becoming the Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Tel Aviv in 1968, a position which he held until his election as Chief Sephardic Rabbi of Israel in 1973.

In 1951–1952 (תשי"ב by the Jewish calendar), he published his first halakha sefer, Hazon Ovadia on the laws of Passover. The book won much praise, and received the approval of the two Chief Rabbis of Israel at the time, Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel and Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog. Two years later he founded 'Or HaTorah' Yeshiva for gifted Sephardic Yeshiva students. This Yeshiva (which did not remain open for long) was the first of many which he established, later with the help of his sons, in order to facilitate Torah education for Sephardic Jews, in order to provide leadership for the community in future generations. In 1953-4 (תשי"ד) and 1955-6 (תשט"ז), he published the first two volumes of his major work Yabia Omer, which also received much praise.

In 1947, Yosef was invited to Cairo by Rabbi Aharon Choueka, founder of yeshiva 'Ahavah VeAchvah', to teach in his yeshiva. Yosef also served, at the request of Rabbi Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, as head of the Cairo beth din (rabbinical court). Yosef found that religious observance was lax in Egypt, be it the Jewish community at large, or even its rabbis. One of the major Halachic issues was the lack of any organised system of Kashrut, which led to conflict between him and other members of the community. It was due to these events that Yosef resigned from his position, just two years after arriving in Cairo. Approximately one year later he returned to what in the meantime had become Israel.

In 1937, Rabbi Yaakov Dweck sent Yosef to give the daily Ben Ish Hai halakha shiur in his stead at the Ohel Rachel Synagogue for the Persian Jewish community in the Beit Yisrael neighborhood. In the course of giving this shiur, Yosef dissented many times with the stringent opinions of the Ben Ish Hai, who preferred the rulings of the Ari zal over Yosef Karo. This was a defining moment for Yosef, who had found a podium to give air to his opinions, while simultaneously learning how to deal with the negative feedback he was receiving from many in his audience, especially from his fellow Iraqi Jews. A number of notable rabbis, among them Yitzhak Nissim, rebuked him over the years for his positions, even burning his first halakha sefer, Hazon Ovadia. But Rabbi Attiya encouraged his student to continue ruling according to his own understanding. Yosef's objections on Ben Ish Hai, for many years in handwritten form only, were printed beginning in 1998 with the appearance of his Halikhot Olam.

In 1933, Hakham Sadqa Hussein prevailed upon Yaakov to send his son to Porat Yosef Yeshiva. He soon advanced to the highest shiur taught by the rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Ezra Attiya.

When Yosef was 24, he married Margalit Fattal (1927–1994), born in Syria, daughter of Rabbi Avraham HaLevi Fattal, when she was 17. They had eleven children.

Yosef was born in Baghdad, Ottoman Iraq, to Yaakov Ben Ovadia and his wife, Gorgia. 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".

Ovadia Yosef (Hebrew: עובדיה יוסף‎, romanized: Ovadya Yosef, Arabic: عبد الله يوسف, romanized: 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 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".