He served with distinction as the chief rabbi of Tel Aviv from 1973 to 1998. He composed volumes of very accessible teshuvot titled “Aseih Lecha

The Aruch Hashulchan (Orach Chaim 345:17) affirms the well-known practice of most Ashkenazic Jews to rely upon a community eruv. May Sephardic Jews also rely

Introduction For many centuries, the great commentaries on the Gemara have grappled with a classic conundrum. On the one hand, one must make a bracha

The placement of a comma makes all the difference in the world. In a classic example, there is a very big difference between “Let’s eat

A Lenient Ruling of Rama I recall learning as far back as elementary school that if one forgot to recite HaMelech HaMishpat during the Aseret

It is one of the most well-known differences between Sephardic Jews and Ashkenazic Jews. The Sephardic minhag, on one hand, is to recite Selichot beginning

“Nein” (no), cried the gabai (sexton) at the German-Jewish synagogue in Switzerland. A guest was leading the congregation in prayer and added “v’yatzmach purkanei v’kareiv

Ashkenazic Pronunciation of Shem Hashem You may have witnessed the following: An Ashkenazic Jew attending a Sephardic synagogue receives an aliyah. Wishing to respect the

Many Ashkenazic Jews who visit Sephardic congregations comment that they are struck by the vitality and energy of Sephardic tefillah. There is no doubt that

Three disputes regarding tefillah bring to life the difference in approach that we described in last week’s column between Rav Mordechai Eliyahu and Chacham Ovadia

The Rambam, Rav Yosef Karo and Rav Ovadia Yosef. This summarizes what many outside the Sephardic community think constitutes the corpus of Sephardic Halacha. Of

I thought Congregation Shaarei Orah, the Sephardic Congregation of Teaneck, always follows Rav Ovadia Yosef. If so, then why on Tisha B’Av at Shacharit do