Last update - 00:00 18/09/2006
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef undergoes cardiac catheterization
By Jonathan Lis and Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondents
Shas party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef underwent cardiac catheterization Monday after being hospitalized Saturday for chest pains, Army Radio reported.
He was in stable condition after the procedure, it said.
Leaders of the ultra-Orthodox Sephardi party had asked listeners to pray for Rabbi Yosef's rapid recovery.
The decision to have Rabbi Yosef undergo the procedure at Hadassah hospital in Jerusalem was made Sunday, after a number of diagnostic exams were performed.
This is the second time in the past week that the former Sephardic Chief Rabbi, 86, has been hospitalized due to chest pains. On Wednesday, he spent the night in Western Galilee Hospital in Nahariya after suffering a mild heart attack.
On Saturday, the hospital said of Rabbi Yosef, "Initial treatment began at his home by his personal doctors. He reached the hospital in his own car."
Rabbi Yosef was to have taught a weekly class via satellite from his home on Saturday night, rather than at Hayasdim synagogue.