38 Facts About Mordechai Eliyahu

The son of a Jerusalem Kabbalist, in his youth, Eliyahu was active in the radical religious Jewish underground terrorist organization Brit HaKanaim.

Mordechai Eliyahu served as a dayan in Beersheba, and in the Supreme Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem.

Mordechai Eliyahu later served as the Rishon LeZion, or Chief Rabbi of Israel, from 1983 to 1993.

Mordechai Eliyahu died at age 81, after complications from a heart condition.

Mordechai Eliyahu was born in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem, the son of Iraqi Jewish rabbi Salman Eliyahu, a Jerusalem Kabbalist, and his wife Mazal, who was a sister of Yehuda Tzadka.

Mordechai Eliyahu had an older brother, Naim Ben Eliyahu, a younger sister Rachel, and brother Shimon.

The family was so poor that Mordechai Eliyahu had to improvise ways in which to study, which often meant learning by candlelight.

Salman died when Mordechai Eliyahu was eleven, but not before he instilled in his son a love of Torah and Kabbalah.

Mordechai Eliyahu was sentenced to ten months imprisonment for his part in the group's deeds.

Mordechai Eliyahu received semikhah from Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim.

That year, Mordechai Eliyahu was appointed dayan in Beersheba, the youngest one in the country.

Mordechai Eliyahu was often involved in adjudicating complicated family issues.

Mordechai Eliyahu was a favorite of the Baba Sali, who lived nearby in Netivot.

One day, the latter insisted Mordechai Eliyahu stop whatever he was doing and come visit him for a glass of arak.

Not wishing to upset the holy man, Mordechai Eliyahu accepted the invitation, only to find out later that a disgruntled ex-litigant had gone to the beth din seeking to do him harm.

Four years later, Mordechai Eliyahu was transferred to the Jerusalem regional beth din, and later was elected to the Supreme Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, a position he would retain during his term as Chief Rabbi of Israel and afterwards.

On March 18,1983, Mordechai Eliyahu was appointed Rishon LeZion at the Yochanan Ben Zakai Synagogue in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem.

Mordechai Eliyahu served concurrently with Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Avraham Shapira until 1993, when both of their terms expired.

Mordechai Eliyahu traveled extensively throughout Israel and the world, often together with Shapira, emphasizing the importance of Jewish education, Shabbat observance, niddah, fighting assimilation, and making aliyah.

Mordechai Eliyahu showed a willingness to go to secular environments in order to connect with other Jews, occasionally lecturing in secular moshavim and kibbutzim.

Mordechai Eliyahu was thus considered the progenitor of the Hardal movement.

Mordechai Eliyahu was an outspoken opponent of the 2005 Israeli disengagement from Gaza.

Mordechai Eliyahu made statements interpreted as forbidding Orthodox Jews from participating in or facilitating the expulsion of the Jews from Gush Katif, but later said he did not mean for soldiers to engage in "active refusal".

In January of that year, Mordechai Eliyahu stated that the 2004 tsunami was a "divine punishment" for Asian governments supporting the disengagement plan.

In March 2006, three days before the Israeli elections, Mordechai Eliyahu stated that it was forbidden to vote for any political party that had backed the disengagement, and stressed that anyone who voted for Kadima was "assisting sinners".

Mordechai Eliyahu stressed the importance of voting for a party committed to religious education and yeshivas, but urged against voting for those religious parties that had supported the disengagement, and called for members of the religious Shas party to repent for supporting the Oslo Accords.

In May 2007, Mordechai Eliyahu wrote a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert which suggested "that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launchings".

Shmuel Mordechai Eliyahu explained that his father opposed a ground troop incursion into Gaza that would endanger IDF soldiers.

Mordechai Eliyahu was considered somewhat controversial for his decades-long support of what some characterize as the radical right of the Religious Zionist movement.

Mordechai Eliyahu was a supporter of Meir Kahane, and was friendly with his family.

Mordechai Eliyahu officiated at the marriage of Kahane's son, Binyamin Ze'ev Kahane, and delivered the eulogy at Meir Kahane's funeral.

Mordechai Eliyahu was a long-time supporter of Jonathan Pollard, becoming his spiritual mentor while Pollard served time in US prisons, having visited him there several times.

Mordechai Eliyahu worked for the preservation of the Iraqi Jewish rite and the opinions of the Ben Ish Hai, and opposed the attempts of Ovadia Yosef to impose a uniform "Israeli Sephardi" rite based on the Shulchan Aruch and his own halakhic opinions.

Mordechai Eliyahu published a prayer book called Qol Eliyahu, based on this stance.

At the age of 24, Mordechai Eliyahu married Tzviya, the daughter of his rabbi, Nissim David Azran, the founder and rosh yeshiva of Bet Shmuel Yeshiva in Nachlaot, Jerusalem.

Mordechai Eliyahu died on June 7,2010, at Shaare Zedek Medical Center from complications related to his heart condition.

Mordechai Eliyahu was interred on Har HaMenuchot, adjacent to the Hida.

Mordechai Eliyahu founded the Heichal Yaakov Synagogue, named after Jacob Safra, and Darchei Hora'ah LeRabbanim yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem, which is headed by his son Yosef Mordechai Eliyahu.