(JTA) — A grandson of a former chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel reportedly will exchange wedding vows with a man at a ceremony led by a religious gay woman. Ovadia Cohen, whose late grandfather Ovadia Yosef was the Shas party spiritual leader and Israel’s foremost Sephardic halachic authority, will tie the knot next week with…
(JTA) — The United Kingdom’s top Sephardic rabbi became the center of an international controversy after he praised societal acceptance of homosexuality as a “fantastic development.” Rabbi Joseph Dweck came under fire after making the comment at a lecture last month. An Orthodox rabbi in London asked a rabbinic court to look into removing Dweck from his position, and a…
With four days left before Israelis go to the polls, the battleground is noticeably shifting from the fight for voters’ ballots to the fight over the shape of the next governing coalition. Specifically, the battle has begun for position within the expected Yitzhak Herzog government. And the way things are shaping up, the person in…
The final deadline passed this afternoon for Israel’s political parties to register for the March 17 Knesset elections. Several last-minute decisions will substantially affect the map in the weeks ahead: Kahanism Redux: Eli Yishai, the former Shas party chairman who quit in December and formed his own religious-right party, Yahad-Ha’am Itanu (“Together – The People…
The head of the Sephardic Orthodox Shas party submitted a resignation letter the day after a video was released showing the party’s former spiritual leader criticizing him and praising his rival. Aryeh Deri said Monday that he was retiring from Shas and politics, the Times of Israel reported. However, the party’s council of rabbis rejected…
If the pre-election polls out of Israel teach us anything, it’s about the strength and weakness of pre-election polls. The strength is that they’re a pretty accurate reflection of what people are thinking. The proof of this is that the flood of polls coming every day from just about every media outlet, right, left and…
When Israel’s most revered rabbi died last October, there was much talk about who would be the main figure to perpetuate his legacy and how he would do it. Nobody suggested that it would be a woman, or that her instrument of influence would be the state’s highest office. But Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s daughter, Adina…
A new highway into Jerusalem will be named for the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas party. Route 16, which will run near the neighborhoods of western Jerusalem and pass through Har Nof, where Yosef lived, will be named for the former chief Sephardic rabbi of Israel who died last week,…
100% of profits support our journalism
