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Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel
Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel (Hebrew: בן ציון מאיר חי עוזיאל; 23 May 1880 – 4 September 1953), sometimes rendered as Ouziel, was the Sephardi chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine from 1939 to 1948, and of Israel from 1948 until his death in 1953.
Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel was born in Jerusalem, where his father, Joseph Raphael, was the chief justice of the Sephardi community of Jerusalem, as well as president of the community council. At the age of twenty he became a yeshivah teacher and also founded a yeshivah called Mahazikei Torah for Sephardi young men.
In 1911, Uziel was appointed Hakham Bashi of Jaffa and the district. There he worked closely with Abraham Isaac Kook, who was the spiritual leader of the Ashkenazi community. Immediately upon his arrival in Jaffa, he began to work vigorously to raise the status of the Oriental congregations there. In spirit and ideas he was close to Kook, and their affinity helped to bring about more harmonious relations than previously existed between the two communities.
During World War I, Uziel was active as a leader and communal worker. His intercession with the Ottoman government on behalf of persecuted Jews finally led to his exile to Damascus but he was permitted to return to Palestine, arriving in Jerusalem before the entry of the British army. In 1921, he was appointed chief rabbi of Salonika, accepting this office with the consent of the Jaffa-Tel Aviv community for a period of three years. He returned to become chief rabbi of Tel Aviv in 1923, and in 1939 was appointed Chief Rabbi of Palestine.
Uziel was a member of the Jewish Assembly of Representatives and the Jewish National Council, as well as being a representative at the meeting which founded the Jewish Agency. He appeared before the Mandatory government as a representative of the Jewish community and on missions on its behalf, and impressed all with his dignity and bearing. He was also founder of the yeshivah Sha'ar Zion in Jerusalem. He contributed extensively to newspapers and periodicals on religious, communal, and national topics as well as Torah novellae and Jewish philosophy.
Uziel was an advocate for strong relationships between the Arab population of the new State of Israel and Jews. He spoke fluent Arabic, and believed in peace and harmony between the two parties.
Two days before his death he dictated his will and testament. It said, inter alia, "I have kept in the forefront of my thoughts the following aims: to disseminate Torah among students, to love the Torah and its precepts, Israel and its sanctity; I have emphasized love for every man and woman of Israel and for the Jewish people as a whole, love for the Lord God of Israel, the bringing of peace between every man and woman of Israel—in body, in spirit, in speech, and in deed, in thought and in meditation, in intent and in act, at home and in the street, in village and in town; to bring genuine peace into the home of the Jew, into the whole assembly of Israel in all its classes and divisions, and between Israel and its Father in Heaven."[citation needed]
Uziel was strongly against the isolationist outlook of segments of the Haredi community, having said "It would be unacceptable and dangerous if religious Jews were to say: 'Let us stand in a corner as though looking at the events from a distance. Let us say to ourselves: we and our families will serve the Lord.'" He was also opposed to religious coercion, especially as part of the state.
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Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel
Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel (Hebrew: בן ציון מאיר חי עוזיאל; 23 May 1880 – 4 September 1953), sometimes rendered as Ouziel, was the Sephardi chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine from 1939 to 1948, and of Israel from 1948 until his death in 1953.
Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel was born in Jerusalem, where his father, Joseph Raphael, was the chief justice of the Sephardi community of Jerusalem, as well as president of the community council. At the age of twenty he became a yeshivah teacher and also founded a yeshivah called Mahazikei Torah for Sephardi young men.
In 1911, Uziel was appointed Hakham Bashi of Jaffa and the district. There he worked closely with Abraham Isaac Kook, who was the spiritual leader of the Ashkenazi community. Immediately upon his arrival in Jaffa, he began to work vigorously to raise the status of the Oriental congregations there. In spirit and ideas he was close to Kook, and their affinity helped to bring about more harmonious relations than previously existed between the two communities.
During World War I, Uziel was active as a leader and communal worker. His intercession with the Ottoman government on behalf of persecuted Jews finally led to his exile to Damascus but he was permitted to return to Palestine, arriving in Jerusalem before the entry of the British army. In 1921, he was appointed chief rabbi of Salonika, accepting this office with the consent of the Jaffa-Tel Aviv community for a period of three years. He returned to become chief rabbi of Tel Aviv in 1923, and in 1939 was appointed Chief Rabbi of Palestine.
Uziel was a member of the Jewish Assembly of Representatives and the Jewish National Council, as well as being a representative at the meeting which founded the Jewish Agency. He appeared before the Mandatory government as a representative of the Jewish community and on missions on its behalf, and impressed all with his dignity and bearing. He was also founder of the yeshivah Sha'ar Zion in Jerusalem. He contributed extensively to newspapers and periodicals on religious, communal, and national topics as well as Torah novellae and Jewish philosophy.
Uziel was an advocate for strong relationships between the Arab population of the new State of Israel and Jews. He spoke fluent Arabic, and believed in peace and harmony between the two parties.
Two days before his death he dictated his will and testament. It said, inter alia, "I have kept in the forefront of my thoughts the following aims: to disseminate Torah among students, to love the Torah and its precepts, Israel and its sanctity; I have emphasized love for every man and woman of Israel and for the Jewish people as a whole, love for the Lord God of Israel, the bringing of peace between every man and woman of Israel—in body, in spirit, in speech, and in deed, in thought and in meditation, in intent and in act, at home and in the street, in village and in town; to bring genuine peace into the home of the Jew, into the whole assembly of Israel in all its classes and divisions, and between Israel and its Father in Heaven."[citation needed]
Uziel was strongly against the isolationist outlook of segments of the Haredi community, having said "It would be unacceptable and dangerous if religious Jews were to say: 'Let us stand in a corner as though looking at the events from a distance. Let us say to ourselves: we and our families will serve the Lord.'" He was also opposed to religious coercion, especially as part of the state.