Chief Rabbi

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"Chief Rabbinate" redirects here. See also Chief Rabbinate of Israel.

Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognised 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 Rabbi 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.

The Chief Rabbi's name is often followed by ABD, which stands for Av Beth Din.[citation needed]

Jewish law provides no support for the post of a "chief rabbi" since every rabbi has equal authority in principle. 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 Castile or the arrabi mor in Portugal.[2] And similarly in the 19th century with the kazyonniy ravvin ("official rabbi") in Imperial Russia.[3]

Contents

Chief Rabbis by country/region

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

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Albania

Argentina

Sephardi

Ashkenazi

Austria

British Empire and Commonwealth

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Main article: List of chief rabbis of the United Kingdom

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbis

Sephardi Hahamim

Bulgaria

[8]

Cuba

Croatia

Cyprus

Czech Republic

Denmark[13]

Egypt

Estonia

France

Guatemala

Hong Kong

Hungary

Note that this list is out of 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)[14]
  • Joseph Hirsch Weiss—grandfather of Stephen Samuel Wise[15][16]
  • Samuel Kohn
  • Simon Hevesi (father of Ferenc Hevesi)
  • Ferenc Hevesi
  • Moshe Kunitzer—a pioneer of the Haskalah movement in Hungary (1828–1837)
  • Koppel Reich
  • Ignatz Lichtenstein (1857–1892) converted to Christianity and still held his position as rabbi.
  • Chaim Yehuda Deutsch
  • József Schweitzer
  • Robert (Avrohom Yehudoh) Deutsch

Iran

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Main article: List of Chief Rabbis of Iran

Ireland

The appointment of a new Chief Rabbi of Ireland has been put on hold since 2008.[17]

Israel

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Main article: Chief Rabbinate of Israel

The position of chief rabbi 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

Lebanon

Mexico

  • Shlomo Tawil (1998–Present)

Macedonia

  • Avi Kozma

Morocco

Nepal

Norway

Panama

  • Zion Levy (1951–2008) Sephardic Chief Rabbi

Poland

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See also: List of Polish Rabbis

Poland: Armed Forces

Romania

Russia

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Main article: Chief Rabbi of Russia

Military Rabbinate

Serbia

Singapore

  • Rabbi Mordechai Abergel/Rabbi Michael Darzi

Slovakia

South Africa

Spain

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

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), the last chief rabbi of Transylvania

Tunisia

Turkey

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See also: Hakham Bashi

Uganda

Ukraine

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.[24]

Uruguay

Venezuela

Chief rabbis by city

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Antwerp, Belgium

Baltimore, United States

  • Abraham N. Schwartz (d. 1934)
  • Joseph H. Feldman (retired 1972, d. 1992)

Berlin, Germany

Birobidzhan, Russia

Budapest, Hungary

Caracas, Venezuela

Chicago, United States

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

Frankfurt, Germany

Gateshead, United Kingdom

The Hague, Netherlands

Haifa, Israel

Hebron, West Bank

Hoboken, United States

Jerusalem, Israel

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.

Leiden, Netherlands

Milan, Italy

Montreal, Canada

Present Av Beis Din Montreal Rav Binyomin Weiss, head of the city's Vaad Hair.

Moscow, Russia

Munich, Germany

  • Yitshak Ehrenberg (1989–1997)[26]
  • 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 City, United States

  • Jacob Joseph 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.
  • Yosef Yitzchok Parnes, the Brooklyner Rebbe, was also considered as such, arriving in Borough Park, Brooklyn in approximately 1913; due to the many non-observant Jews then working for the local utility companies, he did not use any electricity on the Sabbath. Many religious Jews in America in the early 1900s were his adherents.
  • Jacob S. Kassin was the Chief Rabbi of the Syrian Jewish community of New York 1930–1995.

Nové Zámky, Slovakia

Paris, France

Rome, Italy

Rotterdam, Netherlands

Sofia, Bulgaria

St. Louis, Missouri

Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Great Synagogue

Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Israel

Sephardi

Toronto, Canada

Vienna, Austria

Warsaw, Poland

Würzburg, Germany

Zagreb, Croatia

References

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External links

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