Chronology of
the chief rabbis of
ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM

The edges of a paper stack, silver filigree, a shofar, and blue velvet on a pale stone ground.
Symbolic collage for the chief rabbis of Yerusalayim. AI-generated illustration for TJD, 2026-09-22.

ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM did not have one chief-rabbi office that later split and merged.
It developed several overlapping institutions. The older ספרדי SEFARADI succession
began as the Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion, gained formal Ottoman standing
as the Hakham Bashi, and later supplied the title of the national ספרדי SEFARADI
chief rabbi. A distinct אשכנזי AŜKENAZI communal office emerged in the nineteenth
century. Under the English Empire's Mandatory administration, both traditions
were placed inside one recognized Chief Rabbinate system, but they remained two
seats.

This chronology stays focused on ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM. It mentions the national Chief
Rabbinate only when a title changed scope or one person held both a national and
a city role. The complete national succession belongs in a separate chronology
of ארץ ישראל EREẒ YISRAʾEL. The Edah Ḥaredit also developed its own succession and is not
interchangeable with the municipal offices.

How did the Jerusalem-based ספרדי SEFARADI leadership begin?

The early line

The title Rishon le-Zion arose in the second half of the seventeenth century
for the ספרדי SEFARADI head of the rabbis of ארץ ישראל EREẒ YISRAʾEL, whose seat was in
ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM. Encyclopaedia Judaica identifies Moshe
Galante as the first scholar apparently given
the title. The older Jewish Encyclopedia supplies a sequence of officeholders,
but some of its dates differ from later lists. The following table therefore
uses attested leadership dates rather than pretending that every early term is
known exactly.12

Officeholder: Moshe Galante; Attested date or tenure: Chief rabbi by 1665; died 1689; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based ספרדי SEFARADI chief rabbi, later remembered as the first Rishon le-Zion; Predecessor: Earlier leadership not established here; Successor or uncertainty: Moshe ibn Habib

Officeholder: Moshe ibn Habib; Attested date or tenure: From 1689; died in AM 5456 (1696); Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line, with religious influence beyond the city; Predecessor: Moshe Galante; Successor or uncertainty: Moshe Hayyun by 1695

Officeholder: Moshe Hayyun; Attested date or tenure: Chief rabbi by 1695; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Moshe ibn Habib; Successor or uncertainty: Later followed by Avraham Yitzhaki

Officeholder: Avraham ben David Yitzhaki; Attested date or tenure: Chief rabbi by 1715; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Moshe Hayyun; Successor or uncertainty: Binyamin Ha-Kohen Maali

Officeholder: Binyamin Ha-Kohen Maali; Attested date or tenure: Two-year tenure after Yitzhaki; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Avraham ben David Yitzhaki; Successor or uncertainty: Eliezer ben Yaakov Nahum

Officeholder: Eliezer ben Yaakov Nahum; Attested date or tenure: Chief rabbi by 1730; died in 1744; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Binyamin Ha-Kohen Maali; Successor or uncertainty: Nissim Chaim Moshe Mizrahi

Officeholder: Nissim Chaim Moshe Mizrahi; Attested date or tenure: Chief rabbi by 1745; died in 1749; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Eliezer ben Yaakov Nahum; Successor or uncertainty: Yisrael Yaakov Algazi

Officeholder: Yisrael Yaakov Algazi; Attested date or tenure: Died on 10 Tamuz 5516; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Nissim Chaim Moshe Mizrahi; Successor or uncertainty: Yitzhak Ha-Kohen Rapoport by 1754

Officeholder: Yitzhak Ha-Kohen Rapoport; Attested date or tenure: Chief rabbi by 1754; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Yisrael Yaakov Algazi; Successor or uncertainty: Raphael Meyuhas Bekhor Shmuel

Officeholder: Raphael Meyuhas Bekhor Shmuel; Attested date or tenure: From 1762 in the Jewish Encyclopedia chronology; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Yitzhak Ha-Kohen Rapoport; Successor or uncertainty: Yom Tov Algazi

Officeholder: Yom Tov Algazi; Attested date or tenure: From 1786; died 1802; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Raphael Meyuhas Bekhor Shmuel; Successor or uncertainty: Moshe Yosef Mordechai Meyuhas

Officeholder: Moshe Yosef Mordechai Meyuhas; Attested date or tenure: From 1802; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Yom Tov Algazi; Successor or uncertainty: Yaakov Moshe Ayash in 1806

Officeholder: Yaakov Moshe Ayash; Attested date or tenure: From 1806; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Moshe Yosef Mordechai Meyuhas; Successor or uncertainty: Yaakov Koral is also attested in 1807

Officeholder: Yaakov Koral; Attested date or tenure: Attested in 1807; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Yaakov Moshe Ayash; Successor or uncertainty: Raphael Yosef Hazan by 1813

Officeholder: Raphael Yosef Hazan; Attested date or tenure: Attested in 1813; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Yaakov Koral; Successor or uncertainty: Yom Tov Danon by 1822

Officeholder: Yom Tov Danon; Attested date or tenure: Attested in 1822; died in 1823; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Raphael Yosef Hazan; Successor or uncertainty: Shlomo Moshe Suzin, after a one-year vacancy

Officeholder: Shlomo Moshe Suzin; Attested date or tenure: Appointed after the vacancy; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Yom Tov Danon; Successor or uncertainty: Yonah Moshe Navon

Officeholder: Yonah Moshe Navon; Attested date or tenure: From 1826; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion line; Predecessor: Shlomo Moshe Suzin; Successor or uncertainty: Yehuda ben Raphael Navon in 1841

Officeholder: Yehuda ben Raphael Navon; Attested date or tenure: 1841–1842; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion during the transition to Ottoman civil recognition; Predecessor: Yonah Moshe Navon; Successor or uncertainty: Chaim Avraham Gagin

The uncertain dates in this early table are evidence about the surviving record,
not gaps to be filled by guesswork. In particular, modern online lists often
turn an attested year into a precise tenure without showing the source for that
precision. No death-date article is linked for Moshe Hayyun because the reviewed
sources did not establish even a reliable death year. Binyamin Ha-Kohen Maali
also remains unlinked because specialist lists place his death only within an
approximate range around AM 5492–5495; choosing one of those years for an
article ID would disguise the disagreement.34

Who served during the Hakham Bashi era under the Turkish Empire?

Ottoman recognition

The change occurred across 1840–1842, not at one universally reported moment.
Some summaries date the establishment of the Jerusalem Hakham Bashi to about
1840, while recognition, appointment, and the imperial decree are variously
placed in 1841 and 1842. This chronology begins the formal tenure in 1842, when
the Ottoman government recognized Chaim Avraham
Gagin as Hakham Bashi. He held that governmental
title together with Rishon le-Zion. The office represented the community of
יהודים YEHUDIM in ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM and, in practice, a wider territory. Its authority
included courts, communal taxation, and representation before the government.567

Officeholder: Chaim Avraham Gagin; Jerusalem tenure: 1842–1848; Title and territorial scope: Rishon le-Zion and Ottoman-recognized Hakham Bashi, seated in ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM with a wider Palestinian jurisdiction; Predecessor: Yehuda ben Raphael Navon; Successor or overlapping office: Yitzhak Kovo

Officeholder: Yitzhak Kovo; Jerusalem tenure: 1848–1854; Title and territorial scope: Rishon le-Zion and Hakham Bashi of the Jerusalem-based jurisdiction; Predecessor: Chaim Avraham Gagin; Successor or overlapping office: Chaim Nissim Abulafia

Officeholder: Chaim Nissim Abulafia; Jerusalem tenure: 1854–1860; Title and territorial scope: Rishon le-Zion and Hakham Bashi of the Jerusalem-based jurisdiction; Predecessor: Yitzhak Kovo; Successor or overlapping office: Chaim David Hazan

Officeholder: Chaim David Hazan; Jerusalem tenure: 1861–1869; Title and territorial scope: Rishon le-Zion and Hakham Bashi of the Jerusalem-based jurisdiction; Predecessor: Chaim Nissim Abulafia; Successor or overlapping office: Avraham Ashkenazi

Officeholder: Avraham Ashkenazi; Jerusalem tenure: 1869–1880; Title and territorial scope: Rishon le-Zion and Hakham Bashi of the Jerusalem-based jurisdiction; Predecessor: Chaim David Hazan; Successor or overlapping office: Raphael Meir Panigel

Officeholder: Raphael Meir Panigel; Jerusalem tenure: 1880–1893; Title and territorial scope: Rishon le-Zion and Hakham Bashi of the Jerusalem-based jurisdiction; Predecessor: Avraham Ashkenazi; Successor or overlapping office: Yaakov Shaul Elyashar

Officeholder: Yaakov Shaul Elyashar; Jerusalem tenure: 1893–1906; Title and territorial scope: Rishon le-Zion and Hakham Bashi of the Jerusalem-based jurisdiction; Predecessor: Raphael Meir Panigel; Successor or overlapping office: Yaakov Meir's disputed election

Officeholder: Yaakov Meir; Jerusalem tenure: 1906, elected and then removed; Title and territorial scope: Elected to the Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion and Hakham Bashi succession, but the election was invalidated; Predecessor: Yaakov Shaul Elyashar; Successor or overlapping office: Eliyahu Moshe Panigel as acting officeholder; later national chief rabbi

Officeholder: Eliyahu Moshe Panigel; Jerusalem tenure: 1907–1908, acting; Title and territorial scope: Acting head of the Jerusalem-based ספרדי SEFARADI jurisdiction; Predecessor: Yaakov Meir; Successor or overlapping office: Nahman Batito

Officeholder: Nahman Batito; Jerusalem tenure: 1909–1911; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem-based Rishon le-Zion and Hakham Bashi succession; Predecessor: Eliyahu Moshe Panigel; Successor or overlapping office: Moshe Yehuda Franco

Officeholder: Moshe Yehuda Franco; Jerusalem tenure: 1911–1915; Title and territorial scope: Rishon le-Zion and last officeholder in this line appointed by Ottoman imperial decree; Predecessor: Nahman Batito; Successor or overlapping office: Nissim Yehuda Danon as acting officeholder

Officeholder: Nissim Yehuda Danon; Jerusalem tenure: 1915–1918, acting; Title and territorial scope: Acting Jerusalem-based ספרדי SEFARADI leader without Franco's full imperial authority; Predecessor: Moshe Yehuda Franco; Successor or overlapping office: Office reorganized within the national Chief Rabbinate

The final Ottoman decade was not a clean succession. After Elyashar's death,
Yaakov Meir won an election in 1906, but the chief rabbi in Istanbul invalidated
it. Panigel served temporarily; Franco later became the last officeholder in the
sequence formally appointed by imperial decree; and Danon acted without the
same authority through the end of Ottoman rule.8

How did the English Empire change the office's scope?

National transition

The conquest of ארץ ישראל EREẒ YISRAʾEL by the English Empire ended the Ottoman civil
office. In 1921–1922, the Mandatory administration and the organized Jewish
community established one recognized Chief Rabbinate system with separate
ספרדי SEFARADI and אשכנזי AŜKENAZI seats. This was a transfer of the historic
Jerusalem-based title into a countrywide institution, not an uninterrupted
municipal succession and not a merger into one chief rabbi.910

Officeholder: Yaakov Meir; Mandatory-era tenure: 1921–1939; Title and territorial scope: Rishon le-Zion and national ספרדי SEFARADI chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine; Relation to the Jerusalem chronology: Earlier elected to the Ottoman Jerusalem office in 1906; included here only to show the change in scope

Officeholder: Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel; Mandatory-era tenure: 1939–1948 under the Mandate; continued nationally under מדינת ישראל MEDINAT YISRAʾEL; Title and territorial scope: Rishon le-Zion and national ספרדי SEFARADI chief rabbi; Relation to the Jerusalem chronology: National successor to Yaakov Meir, not a municipal chief rabbi of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM

The national succession after Yaakov Meir is therefore not continued as though
it were the city list. It belongs in the separate chronology of
ארץ ישראל EREẒ YISRAʾEL. The Jerusalem chronology resumes only when a source identifies
an explicitly municipal office.

Who served as ספרדי SEFARADI chief rabbi of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM under מדינת ישראל MEDINAT YISRAʾEL?

The municipal line

The later municipal line is distinct from the national Rishon le-Zion
succession. It begins in this chronology with Eliyahu Pardes in 1961. The
interval between the founding of מדינת ישראל MEDINAT YISRAʾEL and that appointment is not
silently filled with a national chief rabbi.

Officeholder: Eliyahu Pardes; Municipal tenure: 1961/1962–1972; Title and territorial scope: ספרדי SEFARADI chief rabbi of the city of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM; Predecessor: First municipal officeholder identified here; Successor or overlapping office: Shalom Messas, after vacancy

Officeholder: Vacancy; Municipal tenure: 1972–1977; Title and territorial scope: Municipal ספרדי SEFARADI seat unfilled; Predecessor: Eliyahu Pardes; Successor or overlapping office: Shalom Messas

Officeholder: Shalom Messas; Municipal tenure: 1977–2003; Title and territorial scope: ספרדי SEFARADI chief rabbi of the city of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM; Predecessor: Eliyahu Pardes, after vacancy; Successor or overlapping office: Shlomo Amar, after vacancy

Officeholder: Vacancy; Municipal tenure: 2003–2014; Title and territorial scope: Municipal ספרדי SEFARADI seat unfilled; Predecessor: Shalom Messas; Successor or overlapping office: Shlomo Amar

Officeholder: Shlomo Amar; Municipal tenure: 2014–30 May 2024; Title and territorial scope: ספרדי SEFARADI chief rabbi of the city of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM; Predecessor: Shalom Messas, after vacancy; Successor or overlapping office: Previously national ספרדי SEFARADI chief rabbi, 2003–2013; no city successor elected through 28 August 2026

Officeholder: Vacancy; Municipal tenure: 30 May 2024–present; Title and territorial scope: Municipal ספרדי SEFARADI seat unfilled; Predecessor: Shlomo Amar; Successor or overlapping office: None identified

Encyclopaedia Judaica dates Pardes's city service to 1961–1972, while a
Hebrew biography dates it to 1962–1972; the table preserves that one-year
disagreement. JTA reported the paired election of Messas and Yaakov Bezalel
Zolty in November 1977, ending a long vacancy. Messas served until his death in

Amar, who had already served as national ספרדי SEFARADI chief rabbi from 2003
to 2013, was elected to the city office in 2014 and completed that municipal
term on 30 May 2024.111213141516

Who led the אשכנזי AŜKENAZI succession of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM?

Communal beginnings

1837–1841 — Yosef Zundel
Salant, precursor. Leaders of the Vilna
kolel appointed him as their rabbi before he settled in ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM. He
yielded that communal role to his son-in-law Shmuel Salant in 1841. This was
not yet a citywide chief rabbinate.17

1841–1860 — Shmuel Salant, communal rabbi. The heads of the Lithuanian
kolel appointed Salant as rabbi of the community of אשכנזים AŜKENAZIM in 1841.
His later official status should not be projected backward onto this earlier
appointment.18

1860–1878 — Meir Auerbach, elected
congregation rabbi. At Salant's request, the congregation elected Auerbach
after he moved to ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM. Encyclopaedia Judaica calls him rabbi of
the אשכנזי AŜKENAZI congregation, not the first government-recognized chief
rabbi. This corrects the simplified succession attached to the seed article.19

Recognized succession

Officeholder: Shmuel Salant; Jerusalem tenure: 1878–1909; Title and territorial scope: Formally recognized rabbi of the אשכנזי AŜKENAZI community of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM; Predecessor: Meir Auerbach; Successor or overlapping office: Chaim Berlin

Officeholder: Chaim Berlin; Jerusalem tenure: 1909–1912; Title and territorial scope: Chief rabbi of the אשכנזי AŜKENAZI community of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM; Predecessor: Shmuel Salant; Successor or overlapping office: Avraham Yitzhak Ha-Kohen Kook, after vacancy

Officeholder: Vacancy; Jerusalem tenure: 1912–1919; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem אשכנזי AŜKENAZI seat unfilled; Predecessor: Chaim Berlin; Successor or overlapping office: Avraham Yitzhak Ha-Kohen Kook

Officeholder: Avraham Yitzhak Ha-Kohen Kook; Jerusalem tenure: 1919–1935; Title and territorial scope: אשכנזי AŜKENAZI chief rabbi of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM; Predecessor: Chaim Berlin, after vacancy; Successor or overlapping office: Added the national אשכנזי AŜKENAZI office in 1921; Tzvi Pesach Frank succeeded in the city after a vacancy

Officeholder: Vacancy; Jerusalem tenure: 1935–1936; Title and territorial scope: Jerusalem אשכנזי AŜKENAZI seat unfilled; Predecessor: Avraham Yitzhak Ha-Kohen Kook; Successor or overlapping office: Tzvi Pesach Frank

Officeholder: Tzvi Pesach Frank; Jerusalem tenure: 1936–1960; Title and territorial scope: אשכנזי AŜKENAZI chief rabbi of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM; Predecessor: Avraham Yitzhak Ha-Kohen Kook, after vacancy; Successor or overlapping office: Yaakov Bezalel Zolty, after vacancy

Officeholder: Vacancy; Jerusalem tenure: 1960–1977; Title and territorial scope: Municipal אשכנזי AŜKENAZI seat unfilled; Predecessor: Tzvi Pesach Frank; Successor or overlapping office: Yaakov Bezalel Zolty

Officeholder: Yaakov Bezalel Zolty; Jerusalem tenure: 1977–1982; Title and territorial scope: אשכנזי AŜKENAZI chief rabbi of the city of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM; Predecessor: Tzvi Pesach Frank, after vacancy; Successor or overlapping office: Yitzhak Kolitz, after vacancy

Officeholder: Vacancy; Jerusalem tenure: 1982–1983; Title and territorial scope: Municipal אשכנזי AŜKENAZI seat unfilled; Predecessor: Yaakov Bezalel Zolty; Successor or overlapping office: Yitzhak Kolitz

Officeholder: Yitzhak Kolitz; Jerusalem tenure: 1983–2002; Title and territorial scope: אשכנזי AŜKENAZI chief rabbi of the city of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM; Predecessor: Yaakov Bezalel Zolty, after vacancy; Successor or overlapping office: Aryeh Stern, after vacancy

Officeholder: Vacancy; Jerusalem tenure: 2002–2014; Title and territorial scope: Municipal אשכנזי AŜKENAZI seat unfilled; Predecessor: Yitzhak Kolitz; Successor or overlapping office: Aryeh Stern

Officeholder: Aryeh Stern; Jerusalem tenure: 2014–27 November 2019; Title and territorial scope: אשכנזי AŜKENAZI chief rabbi of the city of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM; Predecessor: Yitzhak Kolitz, after vacancy; Successor or overlapping office: Statutory term ended at age 75; no successor elected through 28 August 2026

Officeholder: Vacancy; Jerusalem tenure: 27 November 2019–present; Title and territorial scope: Municipal אשכנזי AŜKENAZI seat unfilled; Predecessor: Aryeh Stern; Successor or overlapping office: None identified

Salant gained official communal standing in 1878, which had previously belonged
only to the ספרדי SEFARADI establishment. The Aderet, Eliyahu David
Rabinowitz-Teomim, was appointed in 1901
to assist and eventually succeed the elderly Salant, but died in 1905 while
Salant still held office. The Aderet therefore belongs in the chronology as an
overlapping designated successor, not as a sole officeholder.202122

Kook became chief rabbi of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM in 1919 and then also the first
national אשכנזי AŜKENAZI chief rabbi in 1921. Frank's 1936 city election was
initially contested, although later reference works describe its acceptance.
Kolitz was elected in 1983, left office because of illness in 2002, and died in

Stern was elected in 2014. His statutory tenure ended on 27 November 2019
when he reached age 75 and an attempted extension failed. His death on 6 May
2026 did not mark the end of the office term; later references to him as rabbi
of Jerusalem were honorific or communal rather than evidence that he retained
the city's legal rabbinic powers.23242526272829

When did Jerusalem's offices overlap with national offices?

The offices were joined institutionally at times, but they were never merged
into one chief rabbi.

Office or title: Rishon le-Zion, from the seventeenth century; Scope: ספרדי SEFARADI leadership based in ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM, with influence beyond the city; What changed?: A Jerusalem title gradually acquired a wider territorial meaning

Office or title: Hakham Bashi, 1842–1918; Scope: Government-recognized ספרדי SEFARADI representation in ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM and a wider Ottoman jurisdiction; What changed?: The older religious title gained formal political and administrative powers

Office or title: אשכנזי AŜKENAZI Jerusalem rabbinate, formally recognized from 1878; Scope: Community of אשכנזים AŜKENAZIM in the city; What changed?: A parallel office gained recognition; it did not replace the ספרדי SEFARADI office

Office or title: Chief Rabbinate of Mandatory Palestine, from 1921–1922; Scope: Countrywide; What changed?: One recognized institution contained separate ספרדי SEFARADI and אשכנזי AŜKENAZI chief-rabbi seats

Office or title: Municipal chief rabbis of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM under מדינת ישראל MEDINAT YISRAʾEL; Scope: Citywide services and representation; What changed?: The city continued to elect one ספרדי SEFARADI and one אשכנזי AŜKENAZI officeholder

Office or title: Edah Ḥaredit succession, from 1919–1920; Scope: Separate communal authority; What changed?: Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld and his successors formed a rival line outside the municipal succession

Three careers make the overlap especially clear:

Yaakov Meir briefly held Jerusalem's Ottoman ספרדי SEFARADI office in 1906, then
became the first national ספרדי SEFARADI chief rabbi under the Mandatory system in
1921–1922.

Avraham Yitzhak Ha-Kohen Kook became אשכנזי AŜKENAZI chief rabbi of
ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM in 1919 and added the national אשכנזי AŜKENAZI office in 1921.

Shlomo Amar served as national ספרדי SEFARADI chief rabbi from 2003 to 2013, then
won the separate ספרדי SEFARADI municipal office of ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM in 2014.

The 1977 and 2014 elections filled the two Jerusalem seats together. Their
later vacancies did not begin together: the אשכנזי AŜKENAZI seat became vacant in
2019, while the ספרדי SEFARADI seat remained occupied until 30 May 2024. A December
2024 report described both city offices as vacant and announced another election
process. No successor to either municipal seat was identified in sources
reviewed through 28 August 2026.303132

Why do published lists disagree?

Some disagreements come from uncertain early dates. Others come from collapsing
different offices:

a ספרדי SEFARADI title based in ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM could describe authority extending
beyond the city;

the Ottoman Hakham Bashi added governmental authority to an older rabbinic
title;

the national Chief Rabbinate began in 1921–1922 with two chief rabbis, not
one merged office;

Kook and Yaakov Meir moved from Jerusalem roles into national roles;

Amar held the national and municipal ספרדי SEFARADI offices in succession;

the Aderet was a designated successor who never became sole officeholder;

Kolitz left office in 2002 but died in 2003; and

the Edah Ḥaredit succession is separate from the municipal line.

The institutional breaks, rival claims, and vacancies are not clutter around a
clean list. They are the history. They show how communities of יהודים YEHUDIM in
ירושלים YERUŜALAYIM repeatedly reorganized rabbinic authority as political rule,
population, and communal power changed.

Footnotes

  1. https://judaism_enc.en-academic.com/16497/RISHON_LE-ZION ↩
  2. https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8604-jerusalem ↩
  3. https://sites.google.com/view/hluach/home/notes/RishonimLezion ↩
  4. https://www.hamichlol.org.il/%D7%91%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9F_%D7%9E%D7%A2%D7%9C%D7%99_%D7%94%D7%9B%D7%94%D7%9F ↩
  5. https://www.nli.org.il/en/blog/rabbi-chaim-abraham-gagin/ ↩
  6. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0011_0_10087.html ↩
  7. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/orient1960/29/0/29_0_93/_pdf/-char/en ↩
  8. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/orient1960/29/0/29_0_93/_pdf/-char/en ↩
  9. https://www.nli.org.il/en/education/teaching-resources/primary-sources/nnl_edu997013134934405171 ↩
  10. https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/orient1960/29/0/29_0_93/_pdf/-char/en ↩
  11. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/pardes-eliyahu ↩
  12. https://www.hamichlol.org.il/%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%94%D7%95_%D7%A4%D7%A8%D7%93%D7%A1 ↩
  13. https://www.jta.org/archive/jerusalem-gets-chief-rabbis ↩
  14. https://jewishvirtuallibrary.org/mashash-shlomo ↩
  15. https://www.jta.org/2014/10/21/israel/jerusalem-elects-two-chief-rabbis ↩
  16. https://datumedina.reform.org.il/wp-content/uploads/sites/16/2024/05/%D7%A4%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%94-%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%95%D7%A2%D7%9E%D7%A9-%D7%91%D7%91%D7%A7%D7%A9%D7%94-%D7%9C%D7%A4%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%91-%D7%93%D7%95%D7%93-%D7%99%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%A3-compressed.pdf ↩
  17. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/salant-joseph-sundel-ben-benjamin-benish ↩
  18. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/salant-samuel ↩
  19. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/auerbach-meir-ben-isaac ↩
  20. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/salant-samuel ↩
  21. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/rabinowitz-teomim-elijah-david-ben-benjamin ↩
  22. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/berlin-hayyim ↩
  23. https://www.nli.org.il/en/discover/judaism/figures/abraham-isaac-kook ↩
  24. https://www.jta.org/archive/palestine-jewish-groups-balk-at-frank-as-new-chief-rabbi ↩
  25. https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/frank-zevi-pesah ↩
  26. https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/after-11-years-date-set-for-election-of-chief-rabbis-of-jerusalem-373013 ↩
  27. https://www.timesofisrael.com/amar-stern-voted-as-jerusalem-chief-rabbis/ ↩
  28. https://www.ynet.co.il/judaism/article/rjpk00it0ze ↩
  29. https://www.news1.co.il/Archive/001-D-420456-00.html ↩
  30. https://www.jta.org/archive/jerusalem-gets-chief-rabbis ↩
  31. https://www.jta.org/2014/10/21/israel/jerusalem-elects-two-chief-rabbis ↩
  32. https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/401458 ↩