Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel David Yosef Visits the Rebbe’s Ohel
Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi David Yosef visited the Ohel, the resting place of the Rebbe—Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson, of righteous memory—on Tuesday, July 15, following a long tradition of Israel’s chief rabbis looking to the Rebbe for guidance and blessing.
Rabbi Yosef, a member of the Council of Torah Sages and son of the legendary Sephardic Halachic arbiter Rabbi Ovadia Yosef—who himself served in the position between 1973-1983— spent time in personal prayer and reflection at the Rebbe’s resting place in the Old Montefiore Cemetery in Queens, N.Y. During the visit Rabbi Yosef spoke of the Rebbe’s vast scholarship and continuing impact on the world.
The visit was coordinated by Rabbi Yosef Y. Aronow of the Tzierei Agudas Chabad of Israel, the Lubavitch movement’s umbrella organization in the Holy Land along with Agudas Chassidei Chabad, the global umbrella organization of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. Rabbi Yosef was accompanied by Rabbi Zalman Wolowik, director of the nearby Chabad of the the Five Towns, and Rabbi Sholom Duchman, director of Colel Chabad, the oldest extant charity in Israel and the country’s largest food security NGO.
The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has long had a deep connection with the Rebbes of Chabad dating back to Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, the first chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine, and his successor, Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, father of Chaim Herzog and grandfather of Isaac Herzog, both presidents of Israel.
Rabbi Shlomo Goren met with the Rebbe on a number of occasions in New York, and the late Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, formed a particularly close personal connection with him, visiting the Rebbe at his office in Brooklyn, including together with his colleague the then-Ashkenazic chief rabbi Rabbi Avraham Shapira.
Rabbi Yosef’s own father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, shared a deep and respectful relationship with the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. A world-renowned Torah scholar and halachic authority, Rabbi Ovadia met regularly with Chabad figures and once lectured in Kfar Chabad. He was well-versed in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch—Code of Jewish Law—and was one of the select few contemporary scholars to be cited in the Likkutei Sichot of the Rebbe (vol. 33, Shlach III).
In December, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Kalman Ber addressed the International Conference of Chabad-Lubavitch Emissaries, paying homage to the Rebbe’s enduring legacy.
