Politicsיעקב יוסף

Jacob Joseph

Ya'akov Yosef was an Israeli rabbi and politician who served as a Shas member of the Knesset from 1984 to 1988.

1946 to 2013Shas Knesset member, 1984 to 1988Heading the Hazon Ya'akov yeshivaDisputes with his father Ovadia Yosef

Born: 18 October 1946, Jerusalem
Died: 12 April 2013, Jerusalem
Occupation: rabbi, politician
Party: Shas

Jacob Joseph was born in 1946 in Jerusalem

Yosef was born in Jerusalem in 1946, the son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Margalit Yosef. As an infant his family moved to Cairo, where his father served as head of a religious court. The family later returned to Jerusalem.

He studied at the Porat Yosef and Kol Torah yeshivas and also studied with his father. In 1968 he married Nitzhia, daughter of Rabbi Amram Azoulay. He was later ordained as a rabbi at the Rav Kook Institute.

He joined Shas, the party his father founded, and sat on the Jerusalem city council from 1983 to 1984. In 1984 he entered the Knesset and served on several committees, including the Constitution, Law and Justice Committee. He was dropped from the Shas list before the 1988 elections at his father's request.

He headed the Hazon Ya'akov yeshiva and served as rabbi of the Givat Moshe neighborhood in Jerusalem. He opposed his father on peace talks with the Palestinians and on some religious rulings. In 2011 he was arrested on suspicion of incitement to racism over his endorsement of the book The King's Torah and was released shortly after.

Yosef died at Hadassah Ein Kerem hospital in Jerusalem in 2013, about a year after he was diagnosed with cancer. He was buried at Har Hamenuchot cemetery.