Yitzhak Yosef

Kashrut supervisors inspect produce at a fruit and vegetable warehouse on March 20, 2016. (Yaakov Naumi/FLASH90)

August 16, 2018, 7:17 am

Attorney general threatens rabbinate’s kosher certification monopoly

Mandelblit insists rabbinate comply with court ruling to end potentially corrupt practice of businesses paying directly for inspectors

By TOI staff

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman speaks at a press conference on July 19, 2018. (Flash90)

July 25, 2018, 12:28 pm

Defense minister urges colleagues to endorse death penalty for terrorists

Ahead of security cabinet vote on bill, Liberman says there is no need to be more 'enlightened' than US, Japan; security establishment opposes move

By TOI staff

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau (L) and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef convene an emergency meeting against a new proposal to overhaul the conversion to Judaism system in the country on June 3, 2018 (Courtesy of the Chief Rabbinate spokesperson)

June 5, 2018, 3:02 pm

Chief Rabbinate appeals to European rabbis to oppose conversion reform

After slamming Nissim Committee recommendations to strip it of conversion powers, state rabbinical authority looks overseas for help

By TOI staff

Israel's chief rabbis convene an emergency meeting with religious Zionist rabbis against a proposal to overhaul the conversion to Judaism system in the country on June 3, 2018 (Courtesy of the Chief Rabbinate)

June 3, 2018, 3:10 pm

Chief rabbis urge Netanyahu to ‘bury’ bill reforming conversion system

Interior minister vows to block proposed amendments giving official recognition to Reform, Conservative conversions abroad

By Marissa Newman and Stuart Winer

The Ma'asiyahu Prison complex in Ramle, near Tel Aviv. (Courtesy/Israel Prisons Service)

May 31, 2018, 6:17 pm

Haredi inmates to get prison-issued hats and jackets after minister steps in

Prisons had enforced ban on ultra-Orthodox civilian garb during prayers for fear of jailbreaks; Sephardic chief rabbi, Shas minister had protested move

By Marissa Newman

Shas MK David Azoulay during a Knesset committee meeting. February 13, 2013. (Miriam Alster/FLASH90)

May 29, 2018, 1:31 pm

Shas minister, chief rabbi protest hat and jacket ban for Haredi prisoners

Prison enforces order for fear of jailbreaks by inmates praying in civilian garb; among those affected is jailed former chief rabbi Metzger

By Marissa Newman

CNN panelists discuss a meeting Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner had with Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, May 16, 2018. (Screen capture: YouTube)

May 17, 2018, 3:28 am

CNN panel discusses rabbi who compared black children to monkeys

Debate about Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and his meeting with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner devolves into comments about one panelist's masculinity

By Ron Kampeas

April 10, 2018, 3:43 pm

Harold Goldmeier

A deafening silence in the wake of hate speech

Where were was the outrage and demonstrations after the Chief Rabbi made his 'monkeys' comment?

Israel's Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef attends the traditional selling of the the hametz (food containing leavening) of the state of Israel to a non-Jew before the upcoming Passover holiday, on March 29, 2018. (Miriam Alster/Flash90)

April 8, 2018, 7:22 pm

Israeli chief rabbi: Jews have ‘moral obligation’ to intervene in Syria

Following suspected chemical attack on Douma, Yitzhak Yosef calls the fighting 'genocide in its cruelest form, using weapons of mass destruction'

By TOI staff

Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef (R) speaks during a ceremony before the Passover holiday, April 9, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

March 29, 2018, 2:31 pm

Israel mulls criminal action against top rabbi who called black people ‘monkeys’

Justice Ministry said considering various steps against Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, examining whether remark constitutes incitement to racism

By Michael Bachner

March 22, 2018, 10:37 am

Patrick D. John

Was Moses’ wife a monkey?

To Chief Rabbi Yosef: You make Israel look bad -- own your racially insensitive remarks and apologize!

Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef attends the cornerstone laying ceremony for Nezer HaTalmud Yeshiva in Beitar Illit on September 19, 2016. (Yaakov Naumi/Flash90)

March 21, 2018, 1:06 am

ADL slams chief rabbi for likening black people to monkeys

Watchdog group says Yitzhak Yosef's 'racially charged comment' in weekly sermon is 'utterly unacceptable'

By TOI staff

Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef attends a ceremony in Jerusalem, October 22, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

March 20, 2018, 1:45 pm

Chief rabbi calls black people ‘monkeys’

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef uses pejorative term 'kushi' for African Americans in weekly sermon

By Sue Surkes

Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu in Jerusalem, May 24, 2017. (Shlomi Cohen/Flash90)

February 1, 2018, 2:16 am

Rabbi who opposes female service claims ‘war’ being waged with IDF

Shmuel Eliyahu says army agenda on women's integration is 'unhinged'; 100 rabbis write to defense minister in support of Eliyahu, Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef

By TOI staff

IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eisenkot, left, and head of the IDF military rabbinate, Eyal Karim, at a ceremony in Jerusalem, November 1, 2017. (Marc Israel Sellem/Flash90)

January 24, 2018, 8:10 pm

Liberman lets IDF chaplain meet with chief rabbi on women’s enlistment row

Defense minister says army wants to express displeasure at comments by prominent rabbis against integration of female soldiers, demands they take back statements

By Stuart Winer and TOI staff