Rav Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron zt”l

It is with great sadness that Matzav.com reports the petirah of Rav Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron zt”l, former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel. He was 79 years old.

Born in 1941, Rav Bakshi-Doron served as Rishon Letzion from 1993 to 2003.

Rav Bakshi-Doron passed away after being hospitalized due to the coronavirus at Shaarei Tzedek Medical Center in Yerushalayim.

Rav Bakshi-Doron was born in Yerushalayim to Ben-Zion Bakshi-Doron, an Iranian Jewish immigrant, and Tova, who immigrated from Aleppo. He had one older brother, a younger brother, and a sister.

As a young man, Rav Bakshi-Doron studied in several yeshivos, including at Yeshiva HaDarom under Rav Meir Tzvi Bergman, at Yeshivas Chevron, and at Kollel Kol Yaakov. For decades, ever since he was a bochur, he would daven each day kevosikin.

In 1970, Rav Bakshi-Doron began his rabbinic career in the neighborhoods of Ramat Nasi and Ramat Yosef in the city of Bat Yam. He was appointed as Sephardi Chief Rabbi of the city in 1972, and in 1975, the larger city of Haifa, where he remained for 18 years.

In 1993, Rav Bakshi-Doron became the first Rishon Letzion, or Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, of non-Iraqi extraction since Rav Ben-Tzion Meir Chai Uziel in 1954. He served his term concurrently with his Ashkenazi counterpart, Rav Yisroel Meir Lau.

Rav Bakshi-Doron’s wife, Esther, was a daughter of the former Chief Rabbi of Akko, Rav Shalom Lopes. She was born in Yerushalayim in 1940 and absorbed the ahavas haTorah and yiras Shomayim of her father, and also grew up under the powerful influence of her grandfather, Rav Yaakov Lopes, who served as rosh yeshiva of a yeshiva for mekubolim in Yerushalayim. On her mother’s side, she traced her descent to the Bardugo family of rabbonim, who were descendants of Rosh Mashbir and Mayim Amukim.

Rav Bakshi-Doron and his wife always had their hands outstretched to the poor. Their home, with their ten children in their care, was always open to guests. The poor and needy ate at their home every Shabbos and Yom Tov. They ran tzedokoh funds that distributed bridal needs to kallahs. Dozens of requests arrived every day and they would meet their needs. On Erev Pesach, they distributed tens of thousands of dollars to the needy.

Most recently, Rav Bakshi-Doron lived in Bayit Vegan, Yerushalayim.

He published his shailos uteshuvos in sefer Binyan Av.

Rav Bakshi-Doron is survived by his ten children, sons and daughters married to talmidei chachomim, and grandchildren, all following in his footsteps.

Yehi zichro boruch.

{Matzav.com Isra

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