Ovadia Yosef - Halakhic Authority

Halakhic Authority

Yosef is generally considered one of the leading living halakhic authorities, particularly for Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews ("Maran").

Some of his more famous legal rulings include:

• That it is legitimate and permissible to give territory from the Land of Israel in order to achieve a genuine peace. When the Oslo Accords were followed by an intifada, this opinion was later retracted.
• That it is permissible for a Rabbinic Jew to marry a Karaite.
• Supports heter mechira during the Shmita year, following the Sephardic tradition.
• Ordered the Shas political party to vote in favour of a law recognizing brain death as death for legal purposes. The Ashkenazi Haredi political party United Torah Judaism voted against the law on instructions from their spiritual leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.
• A collective recognition of the Jewishness of the Beta Israel, after there was a suspicion that their conversion to Judaism was not in compliance with halakha.
• Allowing the wives of Israel Defense Force soldiers who have been missing in action for a long time to remarry, a verdict which is known as "the releasure of agunot" (התרת עגונות).
• That a woman should not wear a wig (sheitel) as a form of head covering, but should wear headscarves instead. (According to Jewish Law, Jewish married women must cover their hair in public for reasons of modesty). Many Ashkenazi Jews have the practice of wearing sheitels, while some wear a covering on top of the sheitel.