Difference between revisions of "Yehuda Gerami"
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Gerami was born in Tehran to a religious Persian Jewish family with ancient roots in Iran. His father, Dr Shlomo Gerami, was a surgeon who worked at several Tehran hospitals, including the Dr Sapir Jewish Hospital.<ref name="WikiBio" /> | Gerami was born in Tehran to a religious Persian Jewish family with ancient roots in Iran. His father, Dr Shlomo Gerami, was a surgeon who worked at several Tehran hospitals, including the Dr Sapir Jewish Hospital.<ref name="WikiBio" /> | ||
| − | He attended local schools and received supplementary Talmud Torah education. At the age of 15 he travelled via Turkey to Jerusalem, where he studied for a year at Yeshivas Ateres Yisrael under Rabbi Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi. After returning briefly to Iran he continued his studies at Yeshivas Ner Israel in Baltimore, Maryland, an institution that maintained a government-sanctioned arrangement allowing Iranian students. He received rabbinical ordination (semicha) from Rabbi Moshe Heinemann at the age of 25.<ref name="WikiBio" /><ref name="Mishpacha">Contemporary biographical accounts of Gerami’s yeshiva studies, including reports in Orthodox Jewish media.</ref> | + | He attended local schools and received supplementary Talmud Torah education. At the age of 15 he travelled via Turkey to Jerusalem, where he studied for a year at [[Yeshivas Ateres Yisrael]] under Rabbi [[Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi]]. After returning briefly to Iran he continued his studies at [[Yeshivas Ner Israel]] in Baltimore, Maryland, an institution that maintained a government-sanctioned arrangement allowing Iranian students. He received rabbinical ordination (semicha) from Rabbi [[Moshe Heinemann]] at the age of 25.<ref name="WikiBio" /><ref name="Mishpacha">Contemporary biographical accounts of Gerami’s yeshiva studies, including reports in Orthodox Jewish media.</ref> |
==Career== | ==Career== | ||
Revision as of 15:01, 29 July 2026
Chief Rabbi of Iran
| Yehuda Gerami | |
|---|---|
| Image | |
| Born | 1983 or 1984 Tehran, Iran |
| Died | |
| Nationality | Iranian |
| Residence | |
| Occupation | Chief Rabbi of Iran |
| Known for | Spiritual leader of the Iranian Jewish community |
| Parents | Shlomo Gerami (father) |
| Spouse(s) | Tzipora Gerami |
| Children | |
| Sibling(s) | |
| Education | |
| Predecessor | Mashallah Golestani-Nejad |
| Website | |
Yehuda Gerami (Hebrew: יהודה גרמי; born 1983 or 1984) is the Chief Rabbi of Iran and the spiritual leader of the country’s Jewish community since 2011. He oversees synagogues, mikvehs, kosher slaughter and religious education for Iran’s estimated 8,000–20,000 Jews, concentrated mainly in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan.[1][2]
Early life and education
Gerami was born in Tehran to a religious Persian Jewish family with ancient roots in Iran. His father, Dr Shlomo Gerami, was a surgeon who worked at several Tehran hospitals, including the Dr Sapir Jewish Hospital.[1]
He attended local schools and received supplementary Talmud Torah education. At the age of 15 he travelled via Turkey to Jerusalem, where he studied for a year at Yeshivas Ateres Yisrael under Rabbi Boruch Mordechai Ezrachi. After returning briefly to Iran he continued his studies at Yeshivas Ner Israel in Baltimore, Maryland, an institution that maintained a government-sanctioned arrangement allowing Iranian students. He received rabbinical ordination (semicha) from Rabbi Moshe Heinemann at the age of 25.[1][3]
Career
Upon returning to Iran and marrying his Iranian-born wife Tzipora, Gerami began delivering Torah classes and gradually assumed responsibility for vacant communal roles in kashrut, the bet din and mikveh supervision. He was subsequently recognised by the Iranian Jewish community—and acknowledged by the Iranian authorities—as Chief Rabbi.[1]
Under his leadership the community has maintained and expanded religious infrastructure, including kosher restaurants in Tehran, Shiraz and Isfahan, renovated and new mikvehs, a full-day yeshiva, kollels (including one opened in Isfahan), and training programmes for rabbis, shochetim, sofrim and mohelim. He has also overseen arrangements allowing Jewish students to take examinations on the Sabbath with the assistance of a non-writing “secretary.”[2][4]
Gerami is a member of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States (ARIS) and participated in its first summit in Istanbul in 2021. He has maintained contacts with rabbinic leaders in Russia (including Rabbi Berel Lazar) and Turkey (including Rabbi Mendy Chitrik).[5]
In November 2021 he visited Jewish communities in the United States, meeting organisations including Chabad-Lubavitch and the Agudas Harabonim. During the visit he faced criticism from some American Jewish leaders for earlier public statements critical of Israel and Zionism and for a condolence visit to the family of Qasem Soleimani after the latter’s killing in 2020. Gerami has stated that such positions were adopted out of concern for the physical safety of Iran’s Jewish community, emphasising that “we are guests and we have to be diplomatic.”[2]
He continues to lead public religious observances, including Tisha B’Av services at Tehran’s Yusef Abad Synagogue and Purim readings at the traditional Tomb of Mordechai and Esther in Hamadan.[6]
See also
- Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States
- Jews in Iran
- Yusef Abad Synagogue
External links
- Yehuda Gerami on Wikipedia (source overview)
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Biographical details drawn from contemporaneous reports and organisational profiles of Iranian Jewish leadership.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Lazar Berman, In US, Iran’s head rabbi says he condemned Soleimani killing to protect Jews The Times of Israel, 15 November 2021.
- ↑ Contemporary biographical accounts of Gerami’s yeshiva studies, including reports in Orthodox Jewish media.
- ↑ Reports on Iranian Jewish communal institutions under Gerami’s tenure, including coverage in The Yeshiva World and related Orthodox media.
- ↑ Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States membership and summit participation reports, 2021.
- ↑ Iranian chief rabbi reads the Book of Esther at the Tomb of Mordechai and Esther The Times of Israel, 14 March 2025.