Mazor Mahoy Bahaina (; born 12 September 1973) is an Israeli kes, Orthodox

rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

, and former politician, who served as a member of the

Knesset The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel. The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...

for

Shas Shas () is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi religious List of political parties in Israel, political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardic Jews, Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until ...

between 2008 and 2009.

Biography

Born in Wolqayt in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

, Bahaina's

aliyah ''Aliyah'' (, ; ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel or the Palestine (region), Palestine region, which is today chiefly represented by the Israel ...

to Israel started with a trek on foot with his family across the

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

ese border, after which they waited for about a year and a half for immigration approval. On arriving in Israel, his family moved to Or Akiva, and later to Kiryat Gat. Bahaina studied in a few

yeshiva A yeshiva (; ; pl. , or ) is a traditional Jewish educational institution focused on the study of Rabbinic literature, primarily the Talmud and halacha (Jewish law), while Torah and Jewish philosophy are studied in parallel. The stu ...

s, and became an ordained rabbi. After moving to

Beersheba Beersheba ( / ; ), officially Be'er-Sheva, is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. Often referred to as the "Capital of the Negev", it is the centre of the fourth-most populous metropolitan area in Israel, the eighth-most p ...

, he has worked in several socially-oriented positions to support immigrants from Ethiopia, eventually becoming the head rabbi of the Ethiopian Jewish community in Beersheba, numbering about 10,000, and a member of the local

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

. He was placed thirteenth on the Shas list for the 2006 Knesset elections. Although the party won only 12 seats, he entered the Knesset in April 2008, after Shlomo Benizri was convicted. For the 2009 elections, Bahaina was placed twelfth on the party's list, but lost his seat when Shas was reduced to eleven seats. Bahaina lives in

. He is married, with eight children.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bahaina, Mazor 1973 births Living people Black Jewish members of the Knesset Ethiopian emigrants to Israel Ethiopian rabbis Israeli Orthodox rabbis Israeli people of Ethiopian-Jewish descent Members of the 17th Knesset (2006–2009) People from Tigray Region Rabbinic members of the Knesset Rabbis in Beersheba Shas politicians