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The
influential spiritual leader of Israel's Sephardic Jewish community and
the ultra-Orthodox Shas party died Monday at a hospital
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The influential spiritual leader of Israel's Sephardic Jewish community
and the ultra-Orthodox Shas party died Monday at a hospital in
'Jerusalem' (the occupied al-Quds), his surgeon said. He was 93.
His funeral was to take place at 1500 GMT on Monday in the city's ultra-Orthodox Sanhedria district. The rabbi's death came just two weeks after he underwent heart surgery at the city's Hadassa hospital, where he eventually passed away. Despite recent reports of an improvement in his condition, his health took a major turn for the worse overnight. The news prompted Israeli President Shimon Peres to cut short a working meeting with his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman and rush to the rabbi's bedside, his office said. Yosef, a former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel whose son took over the same role in June, had been in and out of hospital for months. He wielded enormous influence among Israeli Jews of Middle Eastern and North African ancestry, and frequently played the role of kingmaker in Israeli fickle coalition politics. Shas was a member of most of Israel's ruling coalitions before going into opposition after general elections in January. |
