About Mordechai Eliyahu
Mordechai Tzemach Eliyahu (Hebrew: מָרְדְּכַי צֶמַח אֵלִיָּהוּ, lit. 'Mordecai Semah Elijah'; March 3, 1929 – June 7, 2010) was an Israeli rabbi, posek, and spiritual leader. The son of a Jerusalem Kabbalist, in his youth, Eliyahu was active in the religious Jewish organization Brit HaKanaim. He served as a dayan in Beersheba, and in the Supreme Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem. He later served as the Rishon LeZion, or Chief Rabbi of Israel, from 1983 to 1993. As a leader of Religious Zionism, Eliyahu was instrumental in moving many of its members over to the religious right, sparking the beginnings of the Hardal movement. A supporter of Meir Kahane and Jonathan Pollard, Eliyahu expressed his opposition to the Israeli disengagement from Gaza. Rabbi Eliyahu died at age 81, after complications from a heart condition. He was buried on Har HaMenuchot in Jerusalem. That year, Eliyahu was appointed dayan in Beersheba, the youngest one in the country. Eliyahu founded the Heichal Yaakov Synagogue, named after Jacob Safra, and Darchei Hora'ah LeRabbanim yeshiva in the Kiryat Moshe neighborhood of Jerusalem, which is now headed by his son Yosef Eliyahu.
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