Chief rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognised religious leader of that country's Jewish community. Israel has traditionally 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.

Chief rabbis of Palestine and Israel

Ottoman rule

• Abraham Ashkenazi (1869-1880)

The British Mandate

Ashkenazi

• • Abraham Isaac Kook (1921-1935)
  • Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1936-1948)

Sephardi

• • Jacob Meir (1921-1939)
  • Ben-Zion Meir Hai Ouziel (1939-1948)

The State of Israel

Ashkenazi

• Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1948-1959)
• Isser Yehuda Unterman (1964-1973)
• Shlomo Goren (1973-1983)
• Avraham Shapira (1983-1993)
• Yisrael Meir Lau (1993-2003)
• Yona Metzger (since 2003)

Sephardi

• Ben-Zion Meir Hai Ouziel (1948-1953)
• Yitzhak Nissim (1955-1973)
• Ovadia Yosef (1973-1983)
• Eliyahu Bakshi Doron (1993-2003)
• Shlomo Amar (since 2003)

Chief rabbis of other nations

Great Britain

• Judah Loeb Cohen (1696-1700)
• Aaron the Scribe of Dublin (1700-1704)
• Aaron Hart (1704-1756)
• Hart Lyon (1758-1764)
• David Tevele Schiff (1765-1791)
• Solomon Hirschell (1802-1842)
• Nathan Marcus Adler (1845-1891)
• Hermann Marcus Adler (1891-1911)
• Joseph Herman Hertz (1911-1946)
• Sir Israel Brodie (1948-1965)
• Lord Immanuel Jakobovits (1966-1991)
• Jonathan Sacks (since 1991)

External links

• Website of the Chief Rabbi of the British Commonwealth

Hungary

Note that this list is out of order.

• Meir ben Isaac(1708-), rabbi of Eisenstadt and author of "Panim Me'irot"
• Alexander ben Menahem
• Phinehas Auerbach
• Jacob Eliezer Braunschweig
• Hirsch Semnitz
• Simon Jolles (1717-)
• Samson Wertheimer (1693?-1724)(also Eisenstadt and Moravia)
• Bernhard Eskeles (Issachar Berush Eskeles ) (1725-1753) [1]
• Joseph Hirsch Weiss , grandfather of Stephen Samuel Wise. [2] [3]
• Samuel Kohn
• Ferenc Hevesi
• Moshe Kunitzer (1828-1837), a pioneer of the Haskalah movement in Hungary.
• Isaac Lichtenstein (1909-)
• Alfréd Schöner
• Koppel Reich
• Chaim Yehuda Deutsch
• József Schweiczer (Schweitzer )

Transylvania

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

South Africa

• Louis Rabinowitz
• Bernard M. Casper
• Cyril Harris
• Warren Goldstein

Chief rabbis of cities

Jerusalem

Ashkenazi, under Ottoman rule

• Meïr Auerbach
• Samuel Salant

Sephardi, under Ottoman rule

• Jacob Saul Alyashar

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.