From Baghdad to the Leadership of a Torah World Remembering Rav Ovadiah Yosef, Zt”l — 13 Years
Today, 3 Cheshvan, marks the 13th yahrtzeit of Rav Ovadiah Yosef, zt”l, whose extraordinary Torah knowledge and lifelong mission helped transform Sephardic Jewry.
Born in Baghdad in 1920, Rav Ovadiah moved to Yerushalayim with his family at the age of four. Growing up in poverty, he sometimes had to help support the family even as a young child. At Yeshivat Porat Yosef, his rebbi, Chacham Ezra Attiyah, recognized his exceptional potential and nurtured his development into a towering talmid chacham.
His path took him from the batei medrash of Yerushalayim to rabbinic service in Cairo, followed by positions as a dayan, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, and, from 1973 to 1983, the Rishon LeTzion and Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel.
Underlying it all was his extraordinary hasmadah.
So many familiar photographs of Rav Ovadiah capture him either delivering a shiur or bent over an open sefer. Those images reflect a lifetime devoted to learning and teaching Torah. Even as communal responsibilities and political leaders made constant demands on his time, the sefer remained at the centre of his life.
His influence reached far beyond any official position.
Following the displacement of Jewish communities across the Middle East and North Africa, many Sephardic families faced poverty, discrimination and weakening ties to their religious heritage.
Rav Ovadiah helped inspire a renewal of Torah learning, observance and communal confidence. His guiding mission was “lehachazir atarah leyoshnah” — restoring the crown to its former glory.
At the heart of that mission was the next generation.
He urged Sephardic parents to give their children a Torah education, encouraging families to choose religious schools and supporting the growth of yeshivos and other Torah institutions. His message reached beyond families already firmly rooted in observance, drawing traditional Sephardic households closer to Torah life.
His involvement in politics was closely connected to these goals. As the founder and spiritual leader of Shas, he helped build a movement that gave Sephardic communities a stronger voice in Israeli public life and made Torah education a central priority. The movement’s school network became an important vehicle for bringing religious education to children from families of varied backgrounds.
Although he never served in the Knesset, political leaders sought his guidance, and his decisions carried considerable weight in coalition politics.
He did not mince words. Rav Ovadiah could speak sharply, even to powerful public figures and senior politicians. His public remarks sometimes stirred controversy, and political stature offered no protection from his forceful criticism.
Central to his halachic mission was strengthening the authority of Maran Rav Yosef Karo, author of the Shulchan Aruch, in Sephardic life.
Through Yabia Omer, Yechaveh Daas, Chazon Ovadiah, and the Yalkut Yosef series compiled by his son, Rav Yitzchak Yosef, his Torah entered shuls, batei medrash and homes around the world.
Alongside his writing and communal responsibilities, he delivered numerous public shiurim throughout the week, bringing Torah and practical halachah to working people as well as talmidei chachamim. His radio broadcasts extended that reach into countless homes. Many of the practical questions he answered on his Pinat Hahalachah radio program became the basis of Yechaveh Daas.
His greatness in learning was matched by his concern for people.
After the Yom Kippur War, he painstakingly examined the cases of women whose husbands were missing, seeking every sound halachic avenue to permit them to remarry.
When he was niftar on 3 Cheshvan 5774, an estimated 800,000 mourners filled the streets of Yerushalayim for his levayah, widely reported as the largest funeral in Israel’s history.
Thirteen years later, his legacy lives on in the sefarim being learned, the children receiving a Torah education, and the renewed strength of Sephardic Torah life worldwide.
Yehi zichro baruch.
