Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron

Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron was born in 1941 in Jerusalem

Bakshi-Doron was born in Jerusalem in 1941. His father, Ben-Zion, was active in the Sephardi community of the city, and his mother, Tova, was born in Aleppo, Syria. The family lived in the Rehavia neighborhood.

In 1955 he began studying at Yeshivat HaDarom in Rehovot, and in 1959 he moved to Hebron Yeshiva in Jerusalem. After his marriage to Esther, daughter of Rabbi Shalom Lopes of Akko, he studied at the Kol Ya'akov kollel from 1964. He also taught at Porat Yosef Yeshiva.

In 1970 he became rabbi of neighborhoods in Bat Yam, and later Sephardi Chief Rabbi of the city. He then served as Chief Rabbi of Haifa and head of its rabbinical courts. In 1983 he ran for Rishon LeZion and lost to Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.

He was elected Rishon LeZion in 1993 and served alongside Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau until 2003. In 2000 the two met Pope John Paul II, and he took part in interfaith meetings, including a 2002 conference in Alexandria. He also backed the land sale permit for the sabbatical year, which led to a dispute with Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv.

After his term he founded the Binyan Av institutions in Jerusalem. He was indicted in 2012 in the rabbis' case and convicted in 2017, but in 2021 the Supreme Court overturned the conviction after his death. He died in Jerusalem in 2020 after contracting the coronavirus.