Chief Rabbi

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Template:Short description Script error: No such module "redirect hatnote". Template:Use dmy dates Chief Rabbi (Template:Langx) 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]

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By country/region

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Albania

Name Assumed office Left office Notes Source
Joel Kaplan December 6, 2010 Incumbent Chabad shaliach, newly-created role [5]

Argentina

Sephardi (Syrian)

Ashkenazi

Austria

Belgium

Bulgaria

Chile

Colombia

Ashkenazi

Sephardi

Chabad

Cuba

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark

Ecuador

  • Menachem Mendel Fried (2022- )

Egypt

Estonia

The Far East

Finland

  • Simon Federbusch (1931–1940)
  • Template:Ill (1946–1951)
  • Mika Weiss (1957–1961)
  • Shmuel Beeri (1961–1963)
  • Mordechai Lanxner (1973–1982)
  • Ove Schwartz (1982–1987)
  • Lazar Kleinman (–1992)
  • Michael Asher Alony (1995–1996)
  • Moshe Edelmann (1999–2012)
  • Template:Ill (2012–)[18]

Chabad-Lubavitch

  • Benyamin Wolff (2003–)[18]

France

Galicia

Galicia is a historical region in Eastern Europe, that today forms part of Poland and Ukraine; the title of its Chief Rabbi was abolished on November 1, 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

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

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Ireland

Israel

Script error: No such module "Labelled list hatnote". The position of chief rabbi (Template:Langx) 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.

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Military Rabbinate

Japan

Latvia

Lebanon

Lithuania

Luxembourg

Mexico

  • Shlomo Tawil (1998–Present)

North Macedonia

  • Avi Kozma

Morocco

Nepal

Norway

Panama

Peru

[33]

Poland

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Military rabbinate

Romania

Russia

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Serbia

Singapore

  • Mordechai Abergel[35]

Slovakia

South Africa

Spain

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

Chabad-Lubavitch

  • Menachem Naftalin (2025-)

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)[37]

Syria

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

Thailand

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

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Chabad

Uganda

Ukraine

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United Arab Emirates

United Kingdom and Commonwealth

Presbyter Judaeorum (England)

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Ashkenazi chief rabbis

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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.[43]

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

Venezuela

By city

Alexandria, Egypt

Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Antwerp, Belgium

Baltimore, Maryland – United States

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

Birobidzhan, Russia

Brussels, Belgium

Budapest, Hungary

Caracas, Venezuela

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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

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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

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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

Leiden, Netherlands

Leeuwarden, Friesland, Netherlands

Milan, Italy

Modi'in Illit, Israel

Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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Moscow, Russia

Munich, Germany

  • Yitshak Ehrenberg (1989–1997)[57]
  • 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

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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  • Chaim Jacob Wiedrewitz was the Chassidic chief rabbi of New York and Pennsylvania;Script error: No such module "Unsubst". 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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  • 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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  • 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.Script error: No such module "Unsubst".

Nové Zámky, Slovakia

Paris, France

Rome, Italy

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Shanghai, China

Sofia, Bulgaria

St. Louis, Missouri – United States

  • Chaim Fischel Epstein
  • Menachem Zvi Eichenstein (1943–1982)
  • Sholom Rivkin (1983–2011)[69]

Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel

Sephardi

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Vienna, Austria

Warsaw, Poland

Würzburg, Germany

Zagreb, Croatia

"Grand Rabbi"

The term "Grand Rabbi" is sometimes used to style a Hasidic Rebbe, particularly on a letterhead, when written in English.[70]

See also

References

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  1. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  2. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  3. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  4. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  5. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  6. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  8. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  9. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  10. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  11. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  12. ↑ Rabbis of Chilean Masorti Forum meet with Mr. Zeev Bielsky Template:Webarchive Masorti World
  13. ↑ The Virtual Jewish History Tour Cuba Jewish Virtual Library
  14. ↑ The Jewish Traveler: HavanaScript error: No such module "Unsubst". Hadassah Magazine
  15. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  17. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  18. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
  19. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  20. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  21. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  22. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  23. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  24. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  25. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  26. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  27. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  28. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  29. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  30. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  31. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  32. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  33. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  34. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  35. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  36. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  37. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  38. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  39. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  40. ↑ "Rymer Toedera," i. 591
  41. ↑ a b c Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
  42. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  43. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  44. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  45. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  46. ↑ https://www.nihs.nl/jga-nihs/organisatie/rabbinaat/ Template:Bare URL inline
  47. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  50. ↑ Title page of Malki Ba-Kodesh, vol. 2; Hoboken, 1921
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  54. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  55. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  56. ↑ Liphshiz, Cnaan Exiled from Russia, Pinchas Goldschmidt is formally out as Moscow’s chief rabbi after 29 years Jewish Telegraphic Agency 6 July 2022 https://www.jta.org/2022/07/06/global/exiled-from-russia-pinchas-goldschmidt-is-formally-out-as-moscows-chief-rabbi-after-29-years
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  60. ↑ a b c d http://www.archieven.nl/pls/m/zk2.inv?p_q=64729996Script error: No such module "Unsubst".
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  62. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  63. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
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  65. ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  66. ↑ a b c d e f Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  67. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  68. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  69. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
  70. ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".

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External links

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