Politicsיעקב אביטן

Ya'akov Avitan

Ya'akov Avitan is an Israeli rabbi and Shas politician who served as Minister of Religious Services from 2020 to 2021.

born 2000Minister of Religious ServicesRabbi of Hof Ashkelon Regional CouncilDeputy mayor of Ashkelon

Occupation: rabbi, politician
Party: Shas

Ya'akov Avitan was born in 2000 in Ashkelon

Avitan was born in Ashkelon on 5 May 1970. His father, Rabbi Yitzhak Avitan, was the regional rabbi of Be'er Tuvia. He went to the Neve Zion elementary school in Ashkelon and the Kiryat Noar yeshiva high school in Jerusalem.

He then studied at the Ohel Moshe and Kol Yehuda yeshivas in Bnei Brak. In 1990 he was ordained as a rabbi. That year he became rabbi of the moshav Beit Shikma, and later rabbi of Hof Ashkelon Regional Council.

He sat on the Helsinki and ethics committees of Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon and headed charity groups. In 1999 he was chosen as the hospital's rabbi.

In 2013 Rabbi Ovadia Yosef asked him to lead the Shas list for the Ashkelon city council. He was elected and put in charge of the city's education department. After the 2018 local elections he became deputy mayor.

On 17 May 2020 he became Minister of Religious Services, though he was not a Knesset member. On 30 April 2021, 45 people died in a crowd crush at Mount Meron. The inquiry commission found him personally responsible and recommended he not be appointed minister again.