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Yedidia Shofet

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Nationality
  
Iranian-American

Name
  
Yedidia Shofet

Children
  

Religion
  
Jewish

Occupation
  
Rabbi

Role
  
Rabbi

Yedidia Shofet httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediaenthumb3

Born
  
November 14, 1908 (
1908-11-14
)

Spouse(s)
  
Rabbanit Heshmat Shofet

Died
  
June 24, 2005, Los Angeles, California, United States

Yedidia shofet jewish wisdom week 10


Yedidia Shofet (also spelled Shophet, and often referred to as Hakham Yedidia; November 14, 1908 – June 24, 2005) was the former Chief Rabbi of Iran and the worldwide spiritual leader of Persian Jewry.

Contents

Interview with Rabbi Hazan David Deri achieving Success - Yedidia Shofet


Early life

Yedidia Shofet was born on November 14, 1908 in Kashan, Iran. He came from a family with twelve generations of rabbis. He moved to Tehran shortly after World War II.

Career

Shofet served as the Chief Rabbi of Iran. He became a liaison and spokesperson for Iranian Jews before the Shah, government officials, and Islamic clerics. He was instrumental in persuading the Shah and other government officials in the early 1950s to allow Iraqi Jews, who had been forced to leave Iraq, to find temporary refuge in Iran before eventually immigrating to Israel.

Following the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the execution of Habib Elghanian, Shofet, along with thousands of other Iranian Jews, immigrated to Southern California. While no longer working as a liaison for Iranian Jews, he continued to serve as a symbolic religious figure, urging Iranian Jewish families to preserve their Jewish tradition. In the United States, Shofet, with his son and other community leaders, helped establish the Nessah Synagogue in Beverly Hills, California.

Personal life

Shofet was married to Rabbanit Heshmat Shofet. They had a son, David Shofet.

Death

Shofet died on June 24, 2005 in Los Angeles, California. He was ninety-six years old. He was buried at the Eden Memorial Park Cemetery in Mission Hills, California.

References

Yedidia Shofet Wikipedia