Half a year after Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef passed away, the ultra-Orthodox party has crowned its newest spiritual guide: Rabbi Shalom Cohen. The 83-year-old rabbi is the head of the prestigious Sephardi Porat Yosef Yeshiva in Jerusalem and is the eldest member of Shas' Council of Torah Sages, of which he has been a member for over 30 years. Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri ran the campaign to install Cohen as Shas' new spiritual chief, with assistance from the council. "Sephardi haredi Judaism has a new spiritual leader," a Shas official said. "Rabbi Cohen was raised in Torah schools, and will be the head of the council." Cohen will be the head of the Council of Torah Sages, Shas mouthpiece Yom Leyom announced on Wednesday, and not president, as Yosef was. Cohen will be known as "Maran Rosh Hayeshiva" ("Our Teacher Head of the Yeshiva") and not simply as "Maran" ("Our Teacher") as Yosef was known. Cohen is known for his frankness. Recently, he spawned controversy with statements directed against the national-religious community, in one such instance, calling the community "Amalek," the biblical enemy of the Jews. The public outcry that ensued prompted Cohen to apologize for his remarks. In another incident, Cohen singled out Habayit Hayehudi, derisively comparing its membership in the government to "taking a potty that babies dirty, and putting it on your heads. Poor things."
