Eldest son of Shas leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef dies at 66

Rabbi Yaakov Yosef, the eldest son of the spiritual leader of the Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, died Friday afternoon after suffering multisystem failure at Hadassah Hospital in Ein Kerem.

Yosef was buried at Jerusalem’s Har Menuhot cemetery Friday before sundown.

The younger Yosef, 66, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer over a year ago. He suffered a multisystem failure earlier this week and succumbed to to the disease.

Earlier Friday, Ynet prematurely published news of Yosef’s death, but the online article was quickly removed.

Relations between Yosef and his father, who served as Israel’s chief Sephardi rabbi in the 1970s, had been strained at times, largely due to ideological differences. Yaakov favored more hardline halachic interpretations, including over matters of land for peace, than his father. Ovadia Yosef favored land for peace agreements while his son said such deals were forbidden.

Yaakov Yosef was one of the founders of the Shas party, and served as an MK in the 11th Knesset and as a Jerusalem city councilman with the ultra-Orthodox party. During his term, he quarreled with the faction and even accused the party of being corrupt. The elder Rabbi Yosef denied the allegations and called his son’s accusations an “outright lie”, causing a rift between him and his son. Eventually, Rabbi Yaakov Yosef left his father’s party.

Father and son were said to have improved relations in recent years.

In 2011, Yosef was called in for questioning by the police for endorsing the book “Torat Hamelech” endorsed the murder of non-Jews under certain circumstances. Yosef refused to respond to the police’s request and was arrested. He was later released and the police closed the case against him without pressing charges.