Chaired the council meeting that backed Derai in the coalition negotiations. Rabbi Abdani (Photo: Flash 90, Ya'akov Cohen)
Rabbi Shimon Abdani, one of the Shas leaders, passed away this morning (Wednesday) at the Tel Hashomer hospital. The 94-year-old rabbi recently fell ill with pneumonia after a long period in which he suffered from a serious medical condition and during which he was also hospitalized several times. In recent months, since the rabbi's death Shalom Cohen, the spiritual leader of Shas, Rabbi Abdani filled the position as the oldest member of the Council of Torah Sages.
Before his death, the family members and Shas chairman Minister Aryeh Deri and Minister of the Ministry of Welfare Yoav Ben Tzur were by his bed and they said the verses of confession and Psalms, as is customary before the death of a person.
The rabbi lived in Bnei Brak and his funeral that will be held in the city is expected to be attended by thousands of people.
Rabbi Abdani was born in Hadera to parents who immigrated from Yemen and educated six of their ten children.
With the establishment of Shas, in 1984, he began to serve as a member of the Council of Sages, the highest spiritual authority of the party, and at the same time he also headed educational institutions in Bnei Brak where thousands of ultra-Orthodox students studied over the years. In 2014, he lost one of his grandsons, Shalom Aharon Abdani, In the attack that happened near the national headquarters in Jerusalem.
Until the last few years, when he weakened, many would come to his house to consult him on halachic and public matters, and the rabbi also did not hesitate to speak out publicly on public issues such as the pride parades and the leadership of current Shas chairman Deri.
Bedani and Deri (photo: photo processing, Hagar Netzer)
About two and a half months ago, the rabbi was hospitalized in serious condition, where he stayed for several weeks.
After that he was released and even chaired a Yeshiva of the Council of the Sages where Deri received backing for the political moves he led in the coalition negotiations.
In August, Rabbi Cohen, the previous spiritual leader of Shas, died at the age of 91. Since then Shas has refrained from officially appointing a successor but the yeshiva The Council of Torah Sages was led by Rabbi Abdani and named in announcements on behalf of the party as president.
Abdani has been linked to several media storms in recent years. About three years ago, the senior member of the spiritual leadership of Shas visited Rabbi Eliezer Berland, the leader of the Shubo Benim community in Hasidism in Breslav, who was convicted of sexual offenses against the women of his congregation .
The visit provoked outrage, and Rabbi Adani received harsh public criticism of him.
After the criticism, the rabbi clarified that this was only a family visit and ruled out the possibility of consulting with Berland as a spiritual figure: "Why would they go to him? Is he the greatest of the generation? Rebbe?
What is he?
He is nothing," he said.
A year earlier, Adani spoke out against the pride parade in Tel Aviv.
In a conversation the recording of which reached Walla!
The rabbi wondered: "To have such dirt in the street and make it a pride? There was no such thing in the nation of Israel. It is a disaster."
The rabbi was asked by one of his students about the parade in Tel Aviv.
He raised the concern that a group of students who study every day in the city might encounter an incident at graduation and asked what should be done.
In response, the rabbi ordered to detain the students until the end of the event or to release them ahead of time.
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