REMEMBER, EVERY HUMAN BEING WAS CREATED IN THE IMAGE OF GOD.
We should avoid any bloodshed. It is against the will of God.


Eliyahu Yosef She'ar Yashuv COHEN, at age 81, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Haifa, Israel

Rabbi She'ar Yashuv Cohen is an 18th-generation descendant in a family of rabbis and Torah scholars. His father was Rabbi David Cohen who was known as the "Nazir of Jerusalem." His mother was Sarah Etkin, among the founders of Omen, a religious women's organization that became the Emunah movement.

Rabbi Cohen, who was formerly active in the Israel Army (lieutenant commander) defended Jerusalem and Gush Etzion during the Israeli War of Independence, had to spend time in a prison camp etc. He served in senior positions in the army rabbinate, including army chaplain and chief rabbi of the Israeli Air Force.

Cohen holds an honors degree in Law from the law faculty of Hebrew University. He specialized in legal advice on rabbinic rulings. He researched Israeli law and its harmonization with the laws relating to the Land of Israel. Afterwards, he served as the deputy mayor of Jerusalem in the Mafdal (NRP) party, and continued in this role after the city was unified in the Six Day War in 1967.

Cohen is the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Haifa, is also President of the Harry Fischel Institute for Talmudic Research and Torah Law. He founded the Midrasha HaGevoha LaTorah ("Advanced Torah Institute") and the Ariel Institute in Jerusalem. He is a senior rabbinical adviser to the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, is the president of the "Sons of Zion" Union and a member of the Haifa University Board of Trustees.

Since many years Rabbi Cohen is active in interfaith dialogue. He was awarded Israel's Sovlanut award (tolerance) in 1991. The pround father of a daughter, with six grandchildren and three greatgrandchildren serves as a chief of the senior council for dialogue between the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Vatican, and recently became Chair of the council for dialogue between Judaism and Islam. He acts as an emissary of the Israel Chief Rabbinate to interfaith meetings.

The rabbi, who out of an idealism for the holiness of life, does not eat meat or fish, nor does he drink wine, says "do´t do to others, what you don´t want to be done to yourself. The rest is comentary. Go and study for yourself. So, love your fellow as yourself. Work towards that goal."