Community Magazine June 2014

44 COMMUNITY MAGAZINE R abbi Zeev is of Iraqi descent, but is closely connected to Syrian Jewry through his wife. His mother-in-law and her family were among the Jews of Halab, Syria who fled the country, leaving their wealth behind, when the Jews of Halab were attacked by their Moslem neighbors after the UN vote approving the State of Israel. This family background has driven Rabbi Zeev to work tirelessly on behalf of Israel’s Sephardic communities, and particularly on behalf of those who fled persecution from Arab lands. Building a School, Building a Political Party Back in the 1970’s Rabbi Zeev saw the dire need for a school that would provide an authentic Torah education for Sephardic girls. He approached Rabbi Yehuda Sadka, zt''l , Rosh Yeshivat Porat Yosef, and presented his plan to open a Bet Yaakov that would serve Israel’s growing Sephardic population. After receiving the rabbi’s blessing, Rabbi Zeev consulted with Hacham Ovadia Yosef, zt''l , and Hacham Bentzion Abba Shaul, zt''l , who likewise offered their support and encouragement. In 1979, the Navat Yisrael school opened in a building that had belonged to Rabbi Nissim’s father. Just two years later, as its enrollment jumped to100 students, the school could no longer be accommodated by its original home. The rabbi went to the government officials to request a new school building, and quickly discovered that his request could not be granted without a “partner” – that is, without a political connection. It was then that Rabbi Zeev realized that a new political party was needed to represent Israel’s traditional and religious Sephardic community, a population whose needs had largely been ignored. In July 1983, a new party was officially registered under the name “Hitahdut Sepharadim Shomrei Torah” – “The Association of Observant Sepharadim” – to present candidates for the local and national elections. Rabbi Zeev was listed as the party’s official chairman, a position he holds to this very day. The party became known as “Shas,” an acrostic for “shomereh Torah Sepharadim” – Sephardic Torah observers. From the very start, the Shas party enjoyed close, warm relations with our community. Hacham Ovadia Yosef, in his role as the head of the Council of Torah Sages, made a formal declaration that the time had come for the Sephardic population in Israel to come together and care for itself, rather than remain in the control of the predominantly Ashkenazic establishment. Under his leadership and guidance, Shas committed itself to strengthening Sephardic communities through education, culture, welfare programs and bolstering religious observance. The party drew support from a wide range of Sephardic Israelis representing many different backgrounds and levels of religious observance. It appealed even to non-Shabbat observant Sepharadim who felt that Shas represented them and their interests far more than any other political movement. The new party won three seats in Jerusalem’s municipal elections in November 1983, and Rabbi Zeev received the appointment of Deputy Mayor, a position he would hold for the next 15 years. But in 1998, Hacham Ovadia, with whom he enjoyed a very close relationship, instructed him to run for the Knesset. Shas had by then become a large, well-established political party, and in the 1999 elections it won 17 Knesset seats, making it the third largest party in the Knesset, and catapulting Rav Nissim Zeev into national office. He has served in the Knesset ever since. Meanwhile, Navat Yisrael, the project with which Rabbi Zeev began his illustrious career of Meet MK Rabbi Nissim Zeev Last month, I was privileged to sit down and speak with Rabbi Nissim Zeev, a member of the Israeli Knesset from the Sephardic Shas Party, who shared with me the fascinating story of his efforts on behalf of Sephardic Jewry, a story that began long before his current work as a parliamentarian. AN INSIDE LOOK INTO THE MK’S ROLE IN FOUNDING THE SHAS PARTY AND HIS PIONEERING EFFORTS ON BEHALF OF JEWS AROUND THE GLOBE MK Rabbi Nissim Zeev presenting at the UN FROM EDUCATOR TO POLITICIAN: PNINA SOUID