Shas spiritual leader and former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef collapsed at his Jerusalem home early Sunday evening, lost consciousness for a short while and was rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital. He is conscious, but doctors are concerned he may have broken his leg when he fainted.
His condition is stable.
The revered rabbi, one of the most influential rabbis in Israel and in Sephardi communities around the world, was on his way from his study room to prepare fore the evening Maariv prayers when he fainted and lost consciousness for a short while.
He is suffering from weakness and pains in his leg.
Knesset Member Aryeh Deri, who is the political powerbroker in the Shas party, was by his side on the way to the hospital, along with Rav Yosef’s personal physician, Dr. Yochanan Shtesman.
Earlier this year the rabbi, the 92-year-old Iraqi-born Torah sage collapsed in a synagogue during Shabbat prayers and was rushed to the emergency room, where he was said to have suffered a minor stroke.
The rabbi lives in the Har Nof neighborhood in Jerusalem.
Rabbi Yosef, or Rav Ovadia as he is affectionately known, is highly controversial but even more highly respected as one of the greatest rabbis in recent generations.
One of his projects on Jewish law is an attempt to create a unified Halakhic codex subject to the rulings of Rabbi Yosef Karo and the unification of the customs of the various Jewish groups in Israel by calling upon them to relinquish traditions, often rooted in Kabbalah and practiced in the lands where they resided prior to their immigration to the Land of Israel.