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abujagirl
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Religious scholar and spiritual leader of Israel's Sephardic Jews, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, is dead.
Yosef died on Monday,suffered from a variety of medical ailments for several years, was hospitalized in recent days in critical condition after suffering kidney failure and problems with other bodily systems.
Yosef was often called the outstanding Sephardic rabbinical authority of the century. He parlayed his religious authority into political power, founding Shas, a party representing Sephardic Jews that became a kingmaker in several government coalitions.
As Jerusalem hospital officials announced his death, anguished cries could be heard from a large crowd of supporters that had gathered. Shas leaders trickled out of the hospital reciting Jewish prayers and sobbing uncontrollably.
"The light of the sun has been extinguished," Aryeh Deri, a Shas leader, wailed. "How will we remain alone? Who will lead us?".
Crowds of anguished followers recited the kaddish, the traditional Jewish prayer for the dead. Israeli police closed central Jerusalem roads and deployed hundreds of officers ahead of an evening funeral. Hundreds of thousands of people were expected to attend.
Isreali Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu described Yosef as "a giant in Torah and Jewish law and a teacher for tens of thousands" whose rulings enhanced Jewish heritage yet also took into consideration modern times. "The Jewish people have lost one of the wisest men of this generation".
