Rav Yehuda Deri zt”l, the chief rabbi of Beer Sheva and brother of Shas party leader Aryeh Deri, was niftar on Tuesday at the age of 66. The levayah is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Yerushalayim.
Rav Deri was niftar at Hadassah Ein Karem Medical Center in Yerushalayim due to complications from an infection that led to his hospitalization last month. His condition had gradually worsened over the past 24 hours.
Aryeh Deri described his late brother as “the leader of a tremendous revolution of Torah and Yiddishkeit, a vigilant keeper of kashrus who redeemed many from sin.” He added that Rav Yehuda “with his pleasant conduct and eloquence knew how to lead his listeners to love Yiddishkeit.”
Rav Yehuda’s passing is “a tremendous loss to his thousands of talmidim” and to Klal Yisrael, Aryeh Deri said, also recalling his late brother’s inclination to “swim against the current.”
Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu expressed his condolences to Aryeh Deri, stating, “Rav Yehuda was a great talmid chacham… a man of chessed and virtue who gained the love and esteem of everyone who knew him. His passing is a great loss for the world of Torah, for the people of Beer Sheva, and for the whole of Klal Yisrael,” he said.
Members of Knesset from both the coalition and the opposition extended their condolences to Aryeh Deri.
Rav Yehuda’s passing was due to a pulmonary condition that required him to be on an ECMO machine; he was taken off the machine several days ago.
A prolific author and dayan, Rav Yehuda was considered a leading candidate to succeed Rav Yitzchok Yosef as the Chief Sephardi Rabbi of Eretz Yisroel, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Some believe his illness contributed to the delay in the succession process.
Before becoming Beer Sheva’s top chareidi rov approximately 30 years ago, Rav Yehuda served as the rov of Ramot in Yerushalayim.
Born in Meknès, Morocco, Rav Yehuda immigrated to Eretz Yisrael with his family in 1968. The family settled in Bat Yam.
Yehi zichro boruch.
{Matzav.com Israel}