Religionיצחק יוסף

Isaac Joseph

Yitzhak Yosef is an Israeli Haredi rabbi who served as Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 2013 to 2024 and compiled the Yalkut Yosef books of Jewish law.

born 1952Sephardi Chief Rabbi of IsraelThe Yalkut Yosef booksFounding Hazon Ovadia

Born: 16 January 1952, Jerusalem
Occupation: rabbi, Chief Rabbi, rabbis of Jerusalem, list of Sephardi chief rabbis of the Land of Israel
Education: Hebron Yeshiva, Porat Joseph Yeshiva

Isaac Joseph was born in 1952 in Jerusalem

Yosef was born in Jerusalem in 1952, the sixth son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and his wife Margalit. He studied at the Yavneh Talmud Torah and from age 12 at the Porat Yosef yeshiva in Katamon. He later studied at Yeshivat HaNegev in Netivot and then at Hebron Yeshiva in Jerusalem.

In 1971 he published Yalkut Yosef, a collection of his father's rulings, with his father's support and supervision. In 1973 he and his father founded Hazon Ovadia, a school for training rabbis and rabbinic judges. In 1980 he was ordained, and he later became head of the school.

In 1975 he became rabbi of moshavim near Jerusalem, where he taught Jewish law and lectured in public schools. In 1992 he opened the Hazon Ovadia yeshiva for boys. On July 24, 2013, he was elected Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel and Rishon LeZion.

His term was extended and ended on July 1, 2024. His public statements on secular people, non-Jews, women's service and black people drew criticism, including from the Anti-Defamation League. In 2024 he received the Israel Prize and joined the Council of Torah Sages of Shas.