Rav Mordechai Eliyahu with the Lubavitcher Rebbe

Text Via VinNews
Former Chief Sephardi Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu passed away on Monday afternoon at Jerusalem’s Sha’arei Tzedek hospital, after a prolonged hospitalization. He was 81 years old.

Eliyahu was born and raised in Jerusalem, and served as chief rabbi between the years 1983-1993.

He was considered one of the spiritual leaders of religious Zionism, and remained an influential voice among the national religious after stepping down.

Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu was born in 1929 in the Old City of Jerusalem; his mother was a granddaughter of the famed Ben Ish Chai. He served as Israel’s Chief Sephardic Rabbi - the Rishon LeTzion – from 1983 until 1993, together with the late Rabbi Avraham Shapira, and the two continued for years afterwards to lead the national-religious public in matters of Jewish Law and thought. He is the author of several works on both.