Hakham Bashi

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Hakham Bashi (Turkish: Hahambaşı حكمباشا) is the Turkish name for the Chief Rabbi of the nation.

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[edit] History

Chief Rabbi Jacob Saul Dwek, Hakham Bashi of Aleppo, Syria, 1908.
Chief Rabbi Jacob Saul Dwek, Hakham Bashi of Aleppo, Syria, 1908.

The institution of the Hakham Bashi was established by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmet II, as part of his policy of governing his exceedingly diverse subjects according to their own laws and authorities wherever possible. Religion was considered as primordial aspect of a communities 'national' identity, so the term Ethnarch has been applied to such religious leaders, especially the (Greek Orthodox) Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople (i.e. in the Sultan's imperial capital, renamed Istanbul in 1930 but replaced by Ankara as republican capital in 1923). As Islam was the official religion of both court and state, the Chief Mufti in Istanbul had a much higher status, even of cabinet rank.

Because of the size and nature of the Ottoman state, containing a far greater part of the diaspora then any other, the position of Hakham Bashi has been compared to that of the Jewish Exilarch.

In the Ottoman Empire, and as such, the Hakham Bashi was the closest thing to an overall Exilarchal authority among Jewry everywhere in the Middle East in early modern times. They held broad powers to legislate, judge and enforce the laws among the Jews of Ottoman Turkey and often sat on the Sultan's divan.

The office also maintained considerable influence outside the Ottoman Empire, especially after the forced migration of numerous Jewish communities and individuals out of Spain (after the fall of Granada in 1492) and Italy.

The Chief Rabbi of the modern, secular Republic of Turkey is still known as Hakham Bashi.

[edit] List of individuals holding the title Hakham Bashi

Eli Capsali 1452 - 1454
Moses Capsali 1454 - 1497
Elijah Mizrachi 1497 - 1526
Mordechai Komitano 1526 - 1542
Tam ben Yahya 1542 - 1543
Eli Rozanes ha - Levi 1543
Eli ben Hayim 1543 - 1602
Yehiel Bashan 1602 - 1625
Joseph Mitrani 1625 - 1639
Yomtov Benyaes 1639 - 1642
Yomtov Hananiah Benyakar 1642 - 1677
Chaim Kamhi 1677 - 1715
Judah Benrey 1715 - 1717
Samuel Levi 1717 - 1720
Abraham Rozanes 1720 - 1745
Solomon Hayim Alfandari 1745 - 1762
Meir Ishaki 1762 - 1780
Eli Palombo 1780 - 1800
Chaim Jacob Benyakar 1800 - 1835
Abraham Levi Pasha 1835 - 1839
Samuel Hayim 1839 - 1841
Moiz Fresko 1841 - 1854
Yacob Avigdor 1854 - 1870
Yakir Geron 1870 - 1872
Moses Levi 1872 - 1909
Chaim Nahum Effendi 1909 - 1920

[edit] Chief rabbis of Egypt since 1920

[edit] Chief rabbis of Turkey since 1920

Shabbetai Levi 1920 - 1922
Isaac Ariel 1922 - 1926
Haim Bejerano 1926 - 1931
Haim Isaac Saki 1931 - 1940
Rafael David Saban 1940 - 1960
David Asseo 1961 - 2002
Ishak Haleva 2003 -

[edit] See also

[edit] References