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Chief Rabbi

Chief Rabbi (Hebrew: רב ראשי, romanized: Rav Rashi) is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities. Since 1911, through a capitulation by Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, Israel has had two chief rabbis, one Ashkenazi and one Sephardi.[1]

Cities with large Jewish communities may also have their own chief rabbis; this is especially the case in Israel but has also been past practice in major Jewish centers in Europe prior to the Holocaust. North American cities rarely have chief rabbis. One exception however is Montreal, with two—one for the Ashkenazi community, the other for the Sephardi.

Jewish law provides no scriptural or Talmudic support for the post of a "chief rabbi." The office, however, is said by many to find its precedent in the religio-political authority figures of Jewish antiquity (e.g., kings, high priests, patriarchs, exilarchs and geonim).[2] The position arose in Europe in the Middle Ages from governing authorities largely for secular administrative reasons such as collecting taxes and registering vital statistics, and for providing an intermediary between the government and the Jewish community, for example in the establishment of the Crown rabbi in several kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, the rab de la corte in the Kingdom of Castile or the arrabi mor in the Kingdom of Portugal, likely influenced by the expectations of their Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Anglican governments and neighbors.[3] Similarly, in the 19th century there was a Crown rabbi of the Russian Empire.[4]

By country/region

Albania

  • Joel Kaplan (2010–present)[5]

Argentina

Sephardi (Syrian)

  • Salomon Benhamu
  • Yosef Chehebar[6]

Sephardi

Ashkenazi

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

  • Gabriel Almosnino (1880–1885)
  • Presiado Bakish (1885–1889)
  • Shimon Dankowitz (1889–1891)
  • Moshe Tadjer (1891–1893)
  • Moritz Grünwald (1893–1895)
  • Presiado Bakish (1895–1898)
  • Moshe Tadjer (1898–1900)
  • Mordecai Ehrenpreis (1900–1914)
  • M. Hezkeya Shabetay Davidov (1914–1918)
  • David Pifano (1920–1925)
  • No Chief Rabbi (1925–1945)
  • Asher Hannanel (1945–1949)[7]
  • Behor Kahlon (1990–2012)
  • Aharon Zerbib (2012–2015)
  • Yoel Yifrach (2015–Present)

Chile

Colombia

Ashkenazi

  • Eliezer Paltiel Roitblatt (1946-1957)
  • Chaim Menachem Bentzion Blumenkrantz (Early 1950s)[8]
  • Alfredo Goldschmidt (1974–Present[9]) (appointed 1991)[10]

Sephardi

  • Miguel Attias (1948-Early 1950)
  • David Sharbani (Early 1950s-1978)
  • Yehuda Benhamu (1978-1986[11])
  • Yehuda Ari Azancot (1986-2000)
  • Shlomo Meir Elharar (2000-2010)
  • Avi Amsalem (2010-Dec. 2020)

Chabad

Cuba

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Ecuador

  • Menachem Mendel Fried (2022- )

Egypt

Estonia

  • Michael Alony (1995–1996)
  • Shmuel Kot (2000–present)

The Far East

Finland

  • Simon Federbusch (1931–1940)
  • Elieser Berlinger [nl] (1946–1951)
  • Mika Weiss (1957–1961)
  • Shmuel Beeri (1961–1963)
  • Mordechai Lanxner (1973–1982)
  • Ove Schwartz (1982–1987)
  • Lazar Kleinman (–1992)
  • Michael Aloni (1995–1996)
  • Moshe Edelmann (1999–2012)
  • Simon Livson [fi] (2012–)[18]

Chabad Lubavitch Chief Rabbi of Finland

  • Benyamin Wolff (2003–)[18]

France

Galicia

Galicia in Central/Eastern Europe, as a political entity, ceased to exist in 1921; the title of its Chief Rabbi had already been abolished 1 November 1786 as part of the Josephinism Reforms.[19][20]

Due to its being a center for Jewish scholarship, the Rabbi of Lemberg was traditionally seen as the Rabbi of Galicia in the era prior to World War II.[21]

Greece

  • Elias Barzilai
  • Gabriel Negrin

Guatemala

Honduras

Hong Kong

Hungary

Note that this list is not in chronological order.
  • Meir Eisenstadt known as the Panim Me'iros (1708–), rabbi of Eisenstadt and author of "Panim Me'irot"
  • Alexander ben Menahem
  • Phinehas Auerbach
  • Jacob Eliezer Braunschweig
  • Hirsch Semnitz
  • Simon Jolles (1717–?)
  • Samson Wertheimer (1693?–1724) (also Eisenstadt and Moravia)
  • Issachar Berush Eskeles (1725–1753)[23]
  • Joseph Hirsch Weiss—grandfather of Stephen Samuel Wise[24][25]
  • Samuel Kohn
  • Simon Hevesi (father of Ferenc Hevesi)
  • Ferenc Hevesi
  • Moshe Kunitzer a pioneer of the Haskalah movement in Hungary (1828–1837)
  • Koppel Reich
  • Chaim Yehuda Deutsch
  • József Schweitzer
  • Robert (Avrohom Yehudoh) Deutsch

Iran

Ireland

The appointment of a new Chief Rabbi of Ireland has been put on hold since 2008.[26] A new Rabbi, Yoni Wieder was appointed in 2023. [27]

Israel

The position of chief rabbi (Hebrew: רַב רָאשִׁי) of the Land of Israel has existed for hundreds of years. During the Mandatory Period, the British recognized the chief rabbis of the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities, just as they recognized the Mufti of Jerusalem. The offices continued after statehood was achieved. Haredi Jewish groups (such as Edah HaChareidis) do not recognize the authority of the Chief Rabbinate. They usually have their own rabbis who do not have any connection to the state rabbinate.

Under current Israeli law, the post of Chief Rabbi exists in only four cities (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Beersheba). In other cities there may be one main rabbi to whom the other rabbis of that city defer, but that post is not officially the "Chief Rabbi".

Many of Israel's chief rabbis were previously chief rabbis of Israeli cities.

Military Rabbinate

Japan

  • Binyamin Edre'i (2015–present)[30]

Latvia

Lebanon

  • Moïse Yedid-Levy (1799–1829)
  • Ralph Alfandari
  • Youssef Mann (1849)
  • Aharoun Yedid-Levy
  • Zaki Cohen (1875)
  • Menaché Ezra Sutton
  • Jacob Bukai
  • Haïm Dana
  • Moïse Yedid-Levy
  • Nassim Afandi Danon (1908–1909)
  • Jacob Tarrab (1910–1921)
  • Salomon Tagger (1921–1923)
  • Shabtai Bahbout (1924–1950)
  • Benzion Lichtman (1932–1959)
  • Shahud Chreim (1960–1978)

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Mexico

  • Shlomo Tawil (1998–Present)
  • Uziel Milevsky (1981-1985)

North Macedonia

  • Avi Kozma

Morocco

Nepal

Norway

Panama

  • Zion Levy (1951–2008) Sephardic Chief Rabbi
  • Aaron Laine (1986–) Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi
  • David Perets (2016–) Sephardic Chief Rabbi

Peru

[34]

  • Abraham Moshe Brener (1930-1967)
  • Baruj Epstein (1966-1967)
  • Yaakov Kraus (1987-1998)
  • Efraim Zik (1999-2009)
  • Itay Meushar (2009-2016)
  • Salomon Cohen (2016-2019)

Poland

Poland: Armed Forces

Romania

Russia

Military Rabbinate

Serbia

Singapore

  • Mordechai Abergel[36]

Slovakia

South Africa

Spain

The following are Chief Rabbis of the Jewish Community of Madrid (CJM):

  • Baruj Garzon (1968–1978), the first Chief Rabbi in Spain since the expulsion in 1492
  • Yehuda Benasouli (1978–1997)
  • Moshe Bendahan (1997–present)

Sudan

  • Solomon Malka (1906–1949)
  • Haim Simoni (1950–1952)
  • Massoud El-Baz (1956–1965 by which time the Jewish community in Sudan had declined so dramatically that they could not afford to pay a Rabbi)[38]

Syria

  • Yom Tov Yedid (1960–1982), moved to the United States in 1982 and died 27 July 2016 in the United States

Thailand

  • Yosef Kantor (1992–present)

Transylvania (before 1918)

Note: The chief rabbi of Transylvania was generally the rabbi of the city of Alba Iulia.

  • Joseph Reis Auerbach (d. 1750)
  • Shalom Selig ben Saul Cohen (1754–1757)
  • Johanan ben Isaac (1758–1760)
  • Benjamin Ze'eb Wolf of Cracow (1764–1777)
  • Moses ben Samuel Levi Margaliot (1778–1817)
  • Menahem ben Joshua Mendel (1818–23)
  • Ezekiel Paneth (1823–1843)
  • Abraham Friedmann (d. 1879), last chief rabbi of Transylvania

Tunisia

Turkey

  • Eli Capsali (1452–1454)
  • Moses Capsali (1454–1497)
  • Elijah Mizrachi (1497–1526)
  • Mordechai Komitano (1526–1542)
  • Tam ben Yahya (1542–1543)
  • Eli Rozanes ha-Levi (1543)
  • Eli ben Hayim (1543–1602)
  • Yehiel Bashan (1602–1625)
  • Joseph Mitrani (1625–1639)
  • Yomtov Benyaes (1639–1642)
  • Yomtov Hananiah Benyakar (1642–1677)
  • Chaim Kamhi (1677–1715)
  • Judah Benrey (1715–1717)
  • Samuel Levi (1717–1720)
  • Abraham Rozanes (1720–1745)
  • Solomon Hayim Alfandari (1745–1762)
  • Meir Ishaki (1762–1780)
  • Eli Palombo (1780–1800)
  • Chaim Jacob Benyakar (1800–1835)
  • Abraham Levi Pasha (1835–1839)
  • Samuel Hayim (1839–1841)
  • Moiz Fresko (1841–1854)
  • Yacob Avigdor (1854–1870)
  • Yakir Geron (1870–1872)
  • Moses Levi (1872–1909)
  • Chaim Nahum Effendi (1909–1920)
  • Shabbetai Levi (1920–1922)
  • Isaac Ariel (1922–1926)
  • Haim Bejerano (1926–1931)
  • Haim Isaac Saki (1931–1940)
  • Rafael David Saban (1940–1960)
  • David Asseo (1961–2002)
  • Ishak Haleva (2003–present)

Chabad

Uganda

Ukraine

United Arab Emirates

  • Levi Duchman (2015-present) first resident rabbi to the UAE, appointed Chabad Shaliach to the UAE in 2020, making him the first Chabad Shaliach in a Gulf country. Directs the Jewish Community Center of the UAE. Rabbi Yehuda Sarna is the current Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Council of the Emirates.

United Kingdom and Commonwealth

Presbyter Judaeorum (England)

Ashkenazi chief rabbis

Spanish and Portuguese community Hahamim/senior rabbis

The Sephardi Jews in the United Kingdom are mainly members of independent synagogues. There is no single rabbi recognised by them as a chief rabbi. The Spanish and Portuguese community, however, consists of several synagogues, charities, a beth din and a kashruth authority. These are under the leadership of an ecclesiastical head. Historically, the individual who fills this role is recognised as a senior rabbi of Anglo Jewry, being the leader of the oldest Jewish community in the country. The Senior Rabbi was traditionally given the title, Haham, meaning "wise one". Since 1918, however, only Solomon Gaon was given this title. The official title of the holder of this office is now The Senior Rabbi of the S&P Sephardi Community of the United Kingdom.

United States

A chief rabbinate never truly developed within the United States for a number of different reasons. While Jews first settled in the United States in 1654 in New York City, rabbis did not appear in the United States until the mid-nineteenth century. This lack of rabbis, coupled with the lack of official colonial or state recognition of a particular sect of Judaism as official effectively led to a form of congregationalism amongst American Jews. This did not stop others from trying to create a unified American Judaism, and in fact, some chief rabbis developed in some American cities despite lacking universal recognition amongst the Jewish communities within the cities (for examples see below). However, Jonathan Sarna argues that those two precedents, as well as the desire of many Jewish immigrants to the US to break from an Orthodox past, effectively prevented any effective Chief Rabbi in America.[42]

Uruguay

  • Jaime Spector (1931–1937)
  • Aaron Milevsky (1937–1943)
  • Aaron Laschover (1943–1967)
  • Nechemia Berman (1970–1993)
  • Eliahu Birenbaum (1994–1999)
  • Yosef Bittón (1999–2002)
  • Mordejai Maarabi (2002–2009)
  • Shai Froindlich (2009–2010)
  • Isaac Fadda (2011–2012)
  • Ben-Tzion Spitz (2013–2016)
  • Max Yojanan Godet (2017–present)

Uzbekistan

  • Baruch Abramchayev[43]

Venezuela

Sephardi

  • Isaac Cohen

Ashkenazi

By city

Alexandria, Egypt

  • Raphael Della Pergola (1910-1918)

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Antwerp, Belgium

Baltimore, Maryland – United States

  • Abraham N. Schwartz (d. 1937)
  • Joseph H. Feldman (retired 1972, d. 1992)

Birobidzhan, Russia

Brussels, Belgium

  • Albert Guigui [nl]

Budapest, Hungary

Caracas, Venezuela

Chicago, Illinois – United States

  • Yaakov Dovid Wilovsky known as the Ridbaz, served as chief rabbi of the Russian-American congregations in the city 1903–1905.

Copenhagen, Denmark

Frankfurt, Germany

  • Menachem Halevi Klein|Menachem Klein
  • Nathan HaKohen Adler

Gateshead, United Kingdom

The Hague, Netherlands

  • Saul Isaac Halevi (1748–1785)
  • Tobias Tal (1895–1898)
  • Dov Yehuda Schochet (1946–1952)

Haifa, Israel

Hannover, Germany

Hebron, West Bank

Helsinki, Finland

  • Naftali Amsterdam (1867–1875)
  • Avrohom Schain (1876–1881)
  • Abraham Werner-Homa (1881–1891)
  • Shmuel Noson Bukantz (1892–1924)
  • Scholem Triestman (1928–1929)[18]

Hoboken, New Jersey – United States

Jerusalem

Edah HaChareidis

Note: The Edah HaChareidis is unaffiliated with the State of Israel. It is a separate, independent religious community with its own Chief Rabbis, who are viewed, in the Haredi world, as being the Chief Rabbis of Jerusalem.

Kyiv, Ukraine

Krakow, Poland

  • Boaz Pash (2006–2012)
  • Eliezer Gurary (2014–present)

Leiden, Netherlands

  • Simon de Vries

Leeuwarden, Friesland, Netherlands

  • Joachim Loewenstam [fy] (1821–1836)
  • Baruch Bendit Dusnus [nl] (1840–1886)
  • Lion Wagenaar [nl] (1886–1895)
  • Tobias Lewenstein (1895–1899)
  • Samuel Rudelsheim [fy] (1900–1918)
  • Bernard Davids [nl] (1924–1927)
  • Simong Dasberg [nl] (1929–1932)
  • Abraham Salomon Levisson [nl] (1935–1945)

Milan, Italy

  • Avraham David Shaumann
  • Elia Kopciovsky (195?–1980)
  • Giuseppe Laras (1980–2005)
  • Alfonso Arbib (2005–present)

Modi'in Illit, Israel

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Moscow, Russia

Munich, Germany

  • Yitshak Ehrenberg (1989–1997)[53]
  • Pinchos Biberfeld, moved back to Germany from where he had emigrated to Israel over 50 years earlier. (1980–1999)
  • Steven Langnas, first German (descendance) Chief Rabbi and Av Beth Din of Munich (1999–2011)

Netherlands – Inter-Provincial Chief rabbinate

  • Dov Yehuda Schochet (1946–1952) [Chief Rabbi of The Hague]
  • Elieser Berlinger (1960–1985)
  • Binyomin Jacobs (2008–recent)

New York, New York – United States

  • Jacob Joseph (1840–1902) was the only true Ashkenazi chief rabbi of New York City; there was never a Sephardi chief rabbi, although Dr. David DeSola Pool acted as a leader among the Sepharadim and was also respected as such. Others it has been said claimed the title of Chief Rabbi; eventually, the title became worthless through dilution.[citation needed]
  • Chaim Jacob Wiedrewitz was the Chassidic chief rabbi of New York and Pennsylvania;[citation needed] he was previously the Chassidic Rav of Moscow and was officially called as "The Moskover Rav", immigrated in 1893 and died in 1911, he's buried in the Chabad society of the Bayside Cemetery in Ozone Park NY.
  • Jacob S. Kassin was the Chief Rabbi of the Syrian Jewish community of New York 1930–1995.[citation needed]
  • Leibish Wolowsky was the chief rabbi of the Galician community of NYC 1888–1913, he was previously the rabbi of Sambor, Austria and immigrated to the US in 1888. He died in 1913 and is buried in the Achum Ahuvim of Reizow at the Mount Zion Cemetery in Maspeth NY.[citation needed]
  • Avrohom Aharon Yudelevitz who was previously the rav of Manchester, England was accepted in 1919 as the chief rabbi of the Jewish Arbitration Court of NYC. He authored many books on Jewish law and responsa. He died in 1930 and is buried in family plot at the Bayside cemetery in Ozone Park NY.[citation needed]

Nové Zámky, Slovakia

Paris, France

Rome, Italy

Rotterdam, Netherlands

  • Josiah Pardo (1648–1669)[55] See his Haskama – Approbation to Sefer Nachalat Shiva, edition Amsterdam 1667, where he is mentioned as Chief Rabbi of both the Sephardi and Ashkenazi congregations in Rotterdam
  • Yosia Pardo (1648–1669). Left in 1669 to Amsterdam.[55]
  • Yuda Loeb ben Rabbi Shlomo (1674-abt. 1700). Born in Wilna.[55]
  • Judah Salomon (1682)[56]
  • Judah Loeb ben Abraham Ephraim Asher Anshel (1700–1708)[57] Born in Hamburg, left for Amsterdam.[55]
  • Solomon Ezekiel (1725–1735)[56]
  • Judah Ezekiel (1738–1755)[56]
  • Abraham Ezekiel (1755–79)[56]
  • Aryeh Leib Breslau (1741–1809)[58]
  • Judah Akiba Eger son of Akiba Eger I (invited but refused position)[56]
  • Elijah Casriel (1815–1833)[56]
  • E.J. Löwenstamm (1834–1845)[56]
  • Joseph Isaacsohn (1850–1871; one of three sons-in-law of Jacob Ettlinger who were Chief Rabbis in the Netherlands)[56]
  • Bernhard Löbel Ritter (1885–1928)[59][60]
  • Simon Hirsch (1928–1930)[60]
  • Aaron Davids (1930–1944)[60]
  • Justus Tal (1945–1954)[61]
  • Salomon Rodrigues Pereira (1954–1959)[61]
  • Levie Vorst (1959–1971)[61]
  • Daniel Kahn (1972–1975)[61]
  • Albert Hutterer (1975–1977)[61]
  • Dov Salzmann (1986–1988)[61]
  • Lody van de Kamp[citation needed]
  • Raphael Evers[citation needed]

Shanghai, China

Sofia, Bulgaria

  • Daniel Zion (in World War II)
  • Asher Hannanel (in World War II)

St. Louis, Missouri – United States

  • Chaim Fischel Epstein
  • Menachem Zvi Eichenstein (1943–1982)
  • Sholom Rivkin (1983–2011)[62]

Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

Sephardi

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Vienna, Austria

Warsaw, Poland

Würzburg, Germany

Zagreb, Croatia

"Grand Rabbi"

Occasionally, the term "Grand Rabbi" is used to note a Hasidic Rebbe, particularly used on letterhead when the letterhead is in English.[citation needed]

See also

References

External links

Look up rabbi or rabbinate in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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