Joseph Azran

Background

Joseph Azran was born on October 19, 1941 in Morocco. In 1968 he arrived to Israel.

Education

He studied at a yeshiva after high school, and was ordained as a rabbi at the Harry Fischel Institute.

Career

Azran worked as a rabbi in a neighbourhood in Jerusalem and as director of a boarding school in Strasbourg in France. Also he held the post of director of the Torah Institution in Ashdod, before becoming the chief rabbi of Kiryat Malakhi and later Rishon LeZion. He joined the new Shas party in the 1980s, and was elected to the Knesset on the party's list in 1988.

On 2 July 1990 he was appointed Deputy Minister of Finance.

He retained his seat in the 1992 elections, but on 28 February 1996 left the party to sit as an independent. During the 13th Knesset he was Deputy Speaker.

Achievements

• In the May 1996 elections he headed a new party named Telem Emuna, but it won only 0.4% of the vote, failing to cross the electoral threshold, and he lost his seat.

Connections

He was married and got 6 children.