This list of Sephardi chief rabbis of the Land of Israel documents the rabbis who served as the spiritual leader of the

Sephardic Sephardic (or Sephardi) Jews (, ; lad, Djudíos Sefardíes), also ''Sepharadim'' , Modern Hebrew: ''Sfaradim'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: Səp̄āraddîm, also , ''Ye'hude Sepharad'', lit. "The Jews of Spain", es, Judíos sefardíes (or ), ...

community in the

Land of Israel The Land of Israel () is the traditional Jewish name for an area of the Southern Levant. Related biblical, religious and historical English terms include the Land of Canaan, the Promised Land, the Holy Land, and Palestine (see also Isra ...

from the mid-17th century to present. The Hebrew title for the position, Rishon LeZion (literally "First to Zion"), has been used since the beginning of the 17th century, and is sourced from a verse in

Isaiah Isaiah ( or ; he, , ''Yəšaʿyāhū'', "God is Salvation"), also known as Isaias, was the 8th-century BC Israelite prophet after whom the Book of Isaiah is named. Within the text of the Book of Isaiah, Isaiah himself is referred to as "the ...

41:27. Between 1842 and 1920 the position of

Hakham Bashi ''Haham Bashi'' (chachampasēs) which is explained as "μεγάλος ραβίνος" or "Grand Rabbi". * Persian: khākhāmbāšīgarī is used in the Persian version of the Ottoman Constitution of 1876. Strauss stated that there was a possibil ...

of Palestine was officially recognised by the Ottoman and

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

governments.

17th century

* Moshe ben Yonatan Galante (1665–?) *

Moshe ibn Habib Moshe ibn Habib (, 1654–1696) was the Rishon LeZion (Sephardic chief Rabbi of Israel), Hakham Bashi (chief rabbi of the Ottoman Empire) and the head of a major ''yeshiva'' in Jerusalem. Background and family ibn Habib was born in 1654 in Salonik ...

(1689–1696)

18th century

* Avraham Ben David Yitzhaki (1709–1729) * Eliezer Ben Yaakov Nachum (c. 1730) *

Nissim Chaim Moshe Mizrachi Nissim or Nisim may refer to: People Given name *Nissim (rapper) (born 1986), American Jewish rapper *Nissim of Gerona (1320–1376), talmudist and authority on Jewish law *Nisim Aloni (1926–1998), Israeli playwright and translator *Nissim Beha ...

(1748–1749) * Israel Yaakov Algazi (c. 1754) * Raphael Shmuel Meyuchas (1756–1771) * Chaim Raphael Avraham Ben Asher (1771–1772) * Yom Tov Algazi (1772–1802)

19th century

Moshe Yosef Mordechai Meyuchas Moshe Yosef Mordechai Meyuchas ( he, משה יוסף מרדכי מיוחס; Moses Joseph Mordechai Meyuchas) (1738–1805) was Chief Rabbi of Israel (''Rishon l’Zion'') from 1802–1805. Meyuchas was born in Jerusalem to the Meyuchas The Meyucha ...

(1802–1806) * Yaakov Moshe Ayash al-Maghrebi (1806–1817) * Yaakov Korach (1817–1818) *

Raphael Yosef Hazan Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino, better known as Raphael (; or ; March 28 or April 6, 1483April 6, 1520), was an Italian painter and architect of the High Renaissance. His work is admired for its clarity of form, ease of composition, and visual a ...

(1819–1821) *

Yom Tov Danon Yom-Tov Danon (; 1741–1823) rabbi and author. Born in Smyrna, He went to Jerusalem in 1821, where he succeeded Joseph Ḥazan as chief rabbi. He wrote ''Kevod Yom-Tov'', a commentary on Maimonides Musa ibn Maimon (1138–1204), commonly ...

(1822–1823) * Shlomo Moses Suzin (1824–1836) * Yonah Moshe Navon (1836–1841) *

Yehuda Raphael Navon Judah or Yehuda is the name of a biblical patriarch, Judah (son of Jacob). It may also refer to: Historical ethnic, political and geographic terms * Tribe of Judah, one of the twelve Tribes of Israel; their allotment corresponds to Judah or Jud ...

(1841–1842) *

Chaim Avraham Gagin Chaim Abraham Gagin (1787–1848) was Chief Rabbi of Ottoman Palestine from 1842 to 1848. He was the grandson of the Jerusalem Kabbalist Shalom Sharabi Sar Shalom Sharabi ( he, שר שלום מזרחי דידיע שרעבי), also known as ...

(1842–1848) - first

of Palestine recognized by Ottoman government. *

Yitzhak Kovo Yitzhak Ben-Hezekiah Yosef Kovo (1770–1854) was born in the large Sephardi community of Ottoman Salonica and later settled in Ottoman-era Jerusalem. In 1848 he succeeded Chaim Abraham Gagin as ''hacham bashi'' aged 78. Throughout his career he ...

(1848–1854) *

Chaim Nissim Abulefia The name ''Haim'' can be a first name or surname originating in the Hebrew language, or deriving from the Old German name ''Haimo''. Hebrew etymology Chayyim ( he, חַיִּים ', Classical Hebrew: , Israeli Hebrew: ), also transcribed ''Haim ...

(1854–1861) *

Chaim David Hazan The name ''Haim'' can be a first name or surname originating in the Hebrew language, or deriving from the Old German name ''Haimo''. Hebrew etymology Chayyim ( he, חַיִּים ', Classical Hebrew: , Israeli Hebrew: ), also transcribed ''Haim ...

(1861–1869) *

Avraham Ashkenazi Avraham Ashkenazi (1813–1880) was a Sephardi chief rabbi (Rishon LeZion). Rabbi Ashkenazi was born at Janishar, near Salonica, in 1813.Isidore Singer & Herman Rosenthalpalestine Abraham Ashkenazi ''1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia'', Jewish Enc ...

(1869–1880) *

Raphael Meir Panigel Raphael Meir ben Yehuda Panigel (1804–1893) was the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Ottoman Empire. Panigel was born in Pazardzhik, Bulgaria, but his family emigrated to the Land of Israel when he was a child. In 1828 and in 1863, he was a ...

(1880–1892) *

Yaakov Shaul Elyashar Yaakov Shaul Elyashar (1 June 1817 – 21 July 1906), also known as Yisa Berakhah, was a 19th-century Sephardi rabbi in Ottoman Syria. He became Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Palestine in 1893. Biography and rabbinic career Yaakov Shaul Elyashar was ...

(1893–1906)

20th century

Yaakov Meir Yaakov Meir CBE (1856–1939), was an Orthodox rabbi, and the first Sephardic Chief Rabbi appointed under the British Mandate of Palestine. A Talmudic scholar, fluent in Hebrew as well as five other languages, he enjoyed a reputation as one of Je ...

(1906) *

Eliyahu Moshe Panigel Eliyahu Moshe Panigel (1850–1919) was the Sephardi chief rabbi of the Ottoman Empire, Palestine and Jerusalem. Orphaned at a young age, Panigel was brought up by his uncle Raphael Meir Panigel, the ''rishon le-Zion'' (Sephardi chief rabbi of P ...

(1907) * Moshe Franco (1911–1915) * Chaim Moshe Elyashur (1914–1915) * Nissin Yehuda Danun (1915–?) *

(1921–1939) *

Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel (, born 23 May 1880, died 4 September 1953), sometimes rendered as Ouziel, was the Sephardi chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine from 1939 to 1948, and of Israel from 1948 until his death in 1953. Biography Ben-Zion Meir Ha ...

(1939–1954) *

Yitzhak Nissim Yitzhak Nissim ( he, ; 1896 - August 9, 1981) was a Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel. Nissim was born in Baghdad and immigrated to Israel in 1925. He studied under Rabbi Sadqa Hussein. In 1955, he became Chief Sephardic Rabbi. As a gesture of g ...

(1955–1972) *

Ovadia Yosef Ovadia Yosef ( he, , Ovadya Yosef, ; 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-Orthod ...

(1973–1983) *

Mordechai Eliyahu Mordechai Tzemach Eliyahu ( he, מרדכי צמח אליהו, March 3, 1929 – June 7, 2010, on the Hebrew calendar: 21 Adar I, 5689 - 25 Siwan, 5770),

(1983–1993) *

Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron ( he, אליהו בקשי דורון‎; April 5, 1941 – April 12, 2020) was an Israeli rabbi who served as Rishon LeZion ( Chief Rabbi of Israel) from 1993 to 2003. Prior to that he served as Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Bat ...

(1993–2003)

21st century

Shlomo Amar Shlomo Moshe Amar ( he, שלמה משה עמאר; ar, سليمان موسى عمار; born April 1, 1948)Gantz, Nesanel. "A Chief Rabbi of the Past and Future". '' Ami'', November 5, 2014, pp. 26-27. is the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Isra ...

(2003—2013 ) *

Yitzhak Yosef Yitzhak Yosef ( he, יצחק יוסף, born January 16, 1952) is the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel (known as the Rishon LeZion), the rosh yeshiva of Yeshivat Hazon Ovadia, and the author of a set of books on ''halakha'' (Jewish law) called Yal ...

(2013—)

References