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Chief rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognised religious leader of that country's Jewish community. Since 1911, through a capitulation by R' Uziel, Israel has had two chief rabbis, one Ashkenazi and one Sephardi.*

Cities with large Jewish communities may also have their own chief rabbis; this is especially the case in Israel but has also been past practice in major Jewish centres in Europe prior to the Holocaust. North American cities have rarely had chief rabbis, although some do have them: Montreal, in fact, has two — one for the Ashkenazi community, the other for the Sephardi.

Chief Rabbis by land/region

Israel/Palestine

Ashkenazi

Sephardi

Argentina

Austria

Belgium

British Empire and Commonwealth

External link: Website of the Chief Rabbi of the the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth

Cuba

Guatemala

Ireland

Poland

See also List of Polish Rabbis

Russia

South Africa

Transylvania

Note: The chief rabbi of Transylvania was generally the rabbi of the city of Gyulafehérvár (also known as Alba Iulia and Karlsburg).

  • Joseph Reis Auerbach (d. 1750)
  • Shalom Selig ben Saul Cohen (1754-57)
  • Johanan ben Isaac (1758-60)
  • Benjamin Ze'eb Wolf of Cracow (1764-77)
  • Moses ben Samuel Levi Margaliot (1778-1817)
  • Menahem ben Joshua Mendel (1818-23)
  • Ezekiel Paneth (1823-1843)
  • Abraham Friedmann (d. 1879), the last chief rabbi of Transylvania

Turkey

See: List of individuals holding the title Hakham Bashi

Ukraine

Chief rabbis of cities

Austria

Vienna

Belgium

Antwerp

Czechoslovakia

Nové Zámky, Slovakia

Hungary

Budapest

Iran

Israel/Land of Israel

During the pre-state years, the British instituted the Chief Rabbinate which would become the official state rabbinate of the State of Israel upon the founding of that state. Haredi Jewish groups do not recognize the authority of the Chief Rabbinate. They usually have their own rabbis who do not have any connection to the state rabbinate. Please note that under current Israeli law, the post of Chief Rabbi exists in only four cities (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa and Beer Sheba). In other cities there may be one main rabbi to whom the other rabbis of that city defer, but that post is not officially the "Chief Rabbi".

Jerusalem
Haredi (not Chief Rabbinate) Chief Rabbis Ashkenazi, under Ottoman and British rule: Ashkenazi, in modern times:

Sephardi, under Ottoman and British rule:

Many of Israel's chief rabbis were previously chief rabbis of Israeli cities.

Tel Aviv-Yaffo

Sephardi

Haifa

Ashkenazi

  • She'ar Yashuv Cohen

Sephardi

Italy

Rome

Netherlands

Amsterdam

Leiden

Rotterdam

United States

New York

Rabbi Jacob Joseph was the only true chief rabbi of New York City. However, others claimed the title also; eventually, the title became worthless through dilution.

Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Parnes, the Brooklyner Rebbe, was also considered as such, arriving in Borough Park, Brooklyn in approximately 1913; due to the many non-observant Jews then working for the local utility companies, he did not use any electricity on the Sabbath. The Grand Rabbi of Satmar as well as many other Religious Jews in America in the early 1900's were his adherents.

Hoboken

  • Rabbi Hayyim Hirschensohn was Chief Rabbi of Hoboken from 1904 until his death, a post which included "The West, that is Jersey City, Union Hill and the Environs" (from title page of Malki Ba-Kodesh, vol. 2; Hoboken, 1921) in its jurisdiction.

Orthodox rabbinic roles and titles | Chief rabbis

Oberrabbiner | Naczelni rabini Izraela

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Chief Rabbi".

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