The Rishon LeZion speaks in New York

On Wednesday, May 1st, Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, visited Yeshiva University-affiliated Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS).

The chief rabbi, also known as the Rishon LeZion, was welcomed to campus with a performance by YU’s Sephardi choir before delivering a shiur to students in the Glueck Beit Midrash. He then offered divrei chizuk to students in the James Striar School of General Jewish Studies/Mechina Program upon their siyum of Masechet Tamid and participated in a luncheon with various roshei yeshiva, members of the YU faculty and administration and local Sephardi community leaders. This was Rabbi Amar’s fourth visit to the YU campus in recent years. His wife, Rabbanit Mazal Amar, delivered a lecture titled “Women’s Leadership According to Chazal” to students on the Israel Henry Beren Campus.

“It is truly a privilege to have Rav Amar in the Yeshiva,” said Rabbi Marc Penner, associate dean of RIETS. “So many things come together when he is here: Ashkenazim and Sephardim, Israel and the Diaspora. His visits not only enlighten us, but remind us of how close we are as a people.

Rav Shlomo Amar also spoke at DRS Yeshiva High School for Boys in Woodmere on Thursday, May 2, about Yom Yerushalayim and Kabalat Hatorah. He also spent Shabbat in Far Rockaway and spoke to standing room only crowds at the White Shul there.