The Jeff Malka Sephardic Collection

Sephardic Chief Rabbis in Israel 1665-

The Sephardic Community Council in Jerusalem had a major role in the country not only in relation with the organization of the local Jews' life in Eretz Israel but also in relation with the ruling authority of the country: the Ottoman ruler till 1917 and the British mandatory government that ended in 1948 with the foundation of the State of Israel.

Its main functions were:

Some explanations about the three titles Chief Rabbis had during the last 350 years:

The Rishon LeTsion literally means "The First in Zion". It derives from from the expression found in the Bible verse: "A harbinger unto Zion will I give" (Isaie 41:27) . This title was first taken in 1665 by Rabbi Moshe Galante and lasted in 1836.

The Hakham Bashi is the Turkish exact translation of "Chief Rabbi". In 1842 the Turks combined the roles of the Constantinople Hakham Bashi and of the Rishon leTsion, while this last was in fact the representative of the Erets Yisrael Jewish population. That unification happened when R' Yona Moshe Navon was functioning as Rishon LeTzion. In fact this Hebrew title remained in used in the Hebrew language till our days.

The Sephardic Chief Rabbi: The Hakham Bashi title continued to be used under the British Mandate till 1921 when a new body was created "The Chief Rabbinate of Erets Yisrael" in which the function of Rishon LeTzion continued to exist for the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, but to it was added an Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi. In the State of Israel, from 1948 and till our days, the Chief Rabbinate of the Country is managed by two Chief Rabbis, one Sephardic and the second Ashkenazi.

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the tremendous contributions and lifelong dedication of Mathilde Tagger, z"l who made this index available. For many years, and right until her untimely death, Mathilde Tagger was a very close friend and collaborator with Jeff Malka. Together they worked to promote Sephardic genealogy research and educate the public about its enormous potential.

In addition, we express our grateful appreciation to Dr. Jeff Malka for his monumental ongoing effort to collect and make accessible Sephardic genealogical information, and for his generosity in contributing his extraordinarily valuable collection to JewishGen.

Search the Database

This collection can be searched by via the JewishGen Israel Database, the JewishGen Jeff Malka Collection or the JewishGen Sephardic Collection