Live UpdateFrom the Liveblog of Monday, October 7, 2013

Jewish Agency chair Sharansky says, ‘Entire Jewish communities returned to Israel thanks to Rav Ovadia’s rulings’

7 October 2013, 5:55 pm Edit

Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky watches over the Old City of Jerusalem (photo credit: Oren Fixler/Flash90)

Jewish Agency chairman Natan Sharansky (photo credit: Oren Fixler/Flash90)

“Rabbi Ovadia Yosef was one of the greatest rabbinic authorities who built the nation of Israel in the Land of Israel,” Jewish Agency head Natan Sharansky says in a statement.

“Entire Jewish communities returned to Israel thanks to Rav Ovadia’s rulings,” Sharansky noted, adding that Yosef’s “rulings on conversion reflected first and foremost the importance of building the nation in an era of the in-gathering of exiles. May his memory be a blessing.”