שָׁלוֹם רָב לְאֹהֲבֵי תוֹרָתֶךָ

Following years of internal tensions among the leaders of the Sephardic community in Israel, rabbinic leaders of the community met for the first time in years on Wednesday evening.

The rabbinic leaders include HaGaon Chacham Shalom Cohen, Rosh Yeshiva of Kiseh Rachamim HaGaon Rabbi Meir Mazuz and the Rishon LeZion and Chief Rabbi of Yerushalayim HaGaon Rabbi Shlomo Amar. Rabbonim from the leadership of Shas including HaGaon Rabbi Shimon Badani and HaGaon Rabbi Reuven Elbaz.

This will be the first summit meeting of its kind where members from all facets of the Sephardic Rabbinic leadership in Israel will be meeting in one place since the last round of elections for the Knesset a few years back.

Rabbi Eyal Mashiach has been a major player in making this meeting come to fruition and getting agreements from both Rabbi Amar and Rabbi Cohen to meet. This summit is seen as being a major step in the direction of creating peace among the different Sephardic communities. The meeting will take place at the home of Rabbi Mashiach in Petach Tikva. The major topic of conversation during the meeting will be the establishment of more Mikvaot under the non-profit organization known as Oram. The goal of the organization is to establish another 101 mikvaot in Israel over the next few months.

Members of the spiritual leadership of Shas as well as members of the spiritual leadership of Yachad, a party that ran against Shas in the last election. While the meeting is not political in nature, there is certainly an important political meaning behind this summit. It is important to note that Interior Minister Aryeh Deri was not invited to the meeting.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)