Ultra-Orthodox party chairman Aryeh Deri mourns loss of faction's council head, calling Cohen 'our father, our teacher and our leader'
Rabbi Shalom Cohen, the influential spiritual leader of the Shas political party, died in Jerusalem on Monday at the age of 91. Cohen served as the head of the Council of Torah Sages for Shas, an ultra-Orthodox party that represents Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews.
Cohen will be buried in Jerusalem’s Sanhedria cemetery next to his wife and near the resting place of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the former Shas spiritual leader who died in 2013.
In the last election, Shas won nine seats, making it the second largest party in the opposition after Likud. Shas is projected to win around eight seats in the November election.
It was a leading safety Rabbi in Israel after Rabbi over the Ovadia Yosef passed away nine years ago and we are very sad this morning about his death, he was sick for a few months ago and yesterday we organized an Anton international jewish community for praying and in america london france and all the members of the kindest set organized different places in israel to try to ask for choice recordering.
Finally in three quarter past three free last night he passed away and it's very difficult for the jewish community in the whole world not only in israel because five months ago Rabbi leader of the jewish community passed away too and we are feeling orphans this morning without our spiritual leader so who inside the party now has the charisma and the following to possibly replace him.
As the party's leader it's very difficult to say actually because he was of the maybe the last one who was born before the creation of the state of israel he was born in jerusalem in 1920 so all the little Rabbi's actually are maybe 30 years younger of him. so it's very difficult we were very close to him for every single question about the political destiny.
we were asking for this not only his blessing but his advice i remember a few months ago with a member of the knesset yoshitaka. he opened the lobby for the orphan's family and we went to the we came to the to the house of Rabbi shalom queen to ask his blessing and his advice and it told us that to care about poor people is the biggest thing that we have to do beside the the fighting for the jewish community in israel and the jewish values in the states of israel but he was crying for eve every person.
I saw myself people asking him for a blessing or recovering lots of things and he was crying with them because as a situation of of the jewish people in israel. All the jewish people in the world he was thinking of owning all the responsibilities about the destiny of the jewish community and for him.
He was very involved he didn't ask for any things to to to he wanted to only to be in the side learning torah and teaching, but when is he felt that there is a very difficult time for the jewish community, he was closing the books and speaking louder to to defend the values of the terror.