Ovadia Yosef (Hebrew: עובדיה יוסף‎ Ovadya Yosef, September 24, 1920 – October 7, 2013) was an Iraqi-born Talmudic scholar and the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1973 to 1983. H was the founder and long-time spiritual leader of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox party Shas. Yosef’s responsa were highly regarded within Haredi circles, particularly among Mizrahi communities, among whom he was regarded as “the most important living halakhic authority.

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