Mordechai Eliyahu

Rav Mordechai Eliyahu (Hebrew מרדכי אליהו; born March 3, 1929 in Jerusalem, † June 7, 2010 ) was a Jewish scholar and Kabbalist and held the functions of the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel and Beersheba.

Born in Jerusalem's Old City in a certificate from Iraq family (parents, Rabbi Eliyahu Saliman and Masal ), he was a leading figure of the Mizrachi.

After the founding of the state, he became a founding member of the Brit Hakana'im, a group that fought against the secular state. After he was seen during a Knesset vote on the military service for women in how he was with fuel on the roof of the Knesset, he was arrested and imprisoned for a time.

In 1960 he became a member of the rabbinical Beth Din in Beersheba (youngest at the time, judges in Israel ). At that time he was Chief Rabbi of Beersheba for four years. After that, he was until his death a member of the Beth Din's highest in Jerusalem. From 1983 to 1993 he was also Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel.

At his funeral at Har Hamenuchot Cemetery (Jerusalem) was attended by over one hundred thousand people.

Both his father and his son are rabbis ( or were). At present (2010) is his son Shmuel Eliyahu Sephardic chief rabbi of Safed.