Yusef Hamadani Cohen ( ;1916 – 29 March 2014) was the Chief Rabbi of Iran and

spiritual leader Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

for the Jewish community of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

(

Iranian Jews Persian Jews or Iranian Jews ( fa, یهودیان ایرانی, ''yahudiān-e-Irāni''; he, יהודים פרסים ''Yəhūdīm Parsīm'') are the descendants of Jews who were historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successor s ...

) between January 1994 and 2007. In August 2000, Chief Rabbi Hamadani Cohen met with Iranian President Mohammad Khatami for the first time. In 2003, Cohen and

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

Morris Motamed met with Khatami at

Yusef Abad Synagogue The Yusef Abad Synagogue ( fa, کنیسه یوسف آباد ''Kanise-ye Yusef Ābād'', he, בית הכנסת יוסף-אבד) is the main synagogue of Tehran, Iran. It is also one of the largest synagogues of the city. The official name of the Y ...

which was the first time a

President of Iran The president of Iran ( fa, رئیس‌جمهور ایران, Rayis Jomhur-e Irān) is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The president is the second highest-ranking official of Iran after the Supreme Leader. The president ...

had visited a synagogue since the Islamic Revolution. For the event, Cohen led the opening the

Torah scroll A ( he, סֵפֶר תּוֹרָה; "Book of Torah"; plural: ) or Torah scroll is a handwritten copy of the Torah, meaning the five books of Moses (the first books of the Hebrew Bible). The Torah scroll is mainly used in the ritual of Tor ...

ark and the reciting of prayers. Cohen died after a long illness on 29 March 2014 in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

over Shabbat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cohen, Yousef Hamadani 1916 births 2014 deaths Chief rabbis of Iran Mizrahi Jews 20th-century rabbis 21st-century rabbis People from Tehran