By 72 votes: Rabbi Yosef elected Rishon LeZion and Sephardi Chief Rabbi

September 29, 2024   

Upon completion of the counting of votes for the members of the electorate this evening (Sunday) at the Ramada Hotel in Jerusalem, it was announced that Rabbi David Yosef was elected by a majority of 72 votes to serve as Rishon LeZion and Chief Rabbi of Israel - for the next decade. The Gra"d Yosef received 72 votes from the members of the electoral body. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, the rabbi of the city of Safed, received 43 votes, and the Dayan Rabbi Michael Amos - 21. The elected Rishon LeZion, 67, is married to his wife, Rebbetzin Sophia, is the father of nine children, and lives in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem. He serves as the head of the Beit Midrash 'Yachava Da'at in Har Nof, a member of the Council of Torah Sages, and the author of the series of Halacha books 'Halacha Berura' - a mandatory book in the Jewish home that follows the rulings of the Shulchan Aruch and the Maran of the Gra"a Yosef zt"l. Rabbi David Yosef was born to his father the Gra"a and his mother Mrs. Margalit, and was educated in the Lithuanian yeshiva 'Or Yisrael' headed by the Gra"a Neiman, Ponevez in Bnei Brak and Hebron in Jerusalem. Immediately after his marriage, he founded, with the advice and encouragement of his father, the Beit Midrash 'Yachava Da'at', which over the years has produced thousands of students, dayanim, rabbis, teachers, poskim and community leaders around the world, who continue the path of the chosen Rishon LeZion's rulings. He studied in a community with his father for decades and was the only one who locked himself in the study room with him for long hours - and in particular when writing his halakhic rulings, including his famous responsa for the permission of agunot after the Yom Kippur War. In a famous letter, Rabbi Ovadia testifies that he relies on his son Rabbi David and that he is the only one "who descends to the end of his mind." At his father's behest, he was called to serve as a member of the Shas movement's Council of Torah Sages, where he worked nights and days to unite the people and even brought about a series of historic decisions. The Rabbi has been working his butts off for many years to give Torah lessons and encouragement around the world and is considered a rabbinical figure who is accepted by all segments of the population, religious, ultra-Orthodox, secular, and more. The election of the rabbi to the position of Rishon LeZion by a large majority of votes proves the immense love he enjoys among the public and among the members of the electorate, as well as the hope that the rabbi is the one who will make the rabbinate accessible to citizens and unite the rift in the people, as he has said and repeated dozens of times over the past year. Rabbi David Yosef thanked God for the immense privilege of leading the Chief Rabbinate these days, as well as the members of the electorate who voted for him: "I thank God, blessed be He, for the great privilege. With God's help, I will work nights and days to unite the people precisely at this difficult time, and I will do everything in my power to make the Chief Rabbinate accessible to all citizens and to turn this institution into an important place that everyone's eyes are on, as it always has been.".