Last update - 00:00 25/09/2007
Former chief Ashkenazi rabbi Abraham Shapira hospitalized
By Nadav Shargai, Haaretz Correspondent
Former chief rabbi Abraham Shapira, 96, was hospitalized Tuesday after his health condition took a turn for the worse in the past few days. Students at yeshivas and religious schools, both Haredi and Zionist, are praying for the well-being of Shapira, who is also the Chairman of the "Merkaz Harav" (Rabbinacal Center) Yeshiva.
Rabbi Shapira was seen at Rosh Hashanah services at the "Merkaz Harav" yeshiva, sitting in a wheel chair and connected to an oxygen tank. At the end of the service he went home and has not been seen since as his health began to deteriorate.
During the Fast of Gedaliah, a day after Rosh Hashanah, thousands of prayed for him at the Western Wall.
Along with Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, Rabbi Shapira is the leading adjudicator of Jewish law among members of the religous Zionist movement and tens of thousands of them adhere to his rulings.
During the Oslo accords, Rabbi Shapira ruled that handing over territories, even in the framework of a peace agreement, is against Jewish law.
He also called on soldiers to refuse orders, an instruction that he reiterated many times over the years including during the disengagement from Gaza in 2005.
Shapira was born in Jerusalem and studied at the Etz Haim and Hebron yeshivas. In 1956, at the age of 45, he was sworn is as a judge on the Great Rabbinacal Court in Jerusalem. In 1971, he was appointed head of the court. In 1980 he was elected to the chief rabbi council and three years later, along with Rabbi Eliyahu, he was appointed Chief Rabbi. Shapira's tenure as Chief Rabbi lasted for 10 years, until 1993.
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