Rishon Le-Tsiyyon

("First in Zion"). Title given by Sephardim to their "head of the rabbis in Israel." The biblical term from which it derives is "a harbinger unto Zion" (Isa. 41:27). The title of Rishon le-Tsiyyon, accorded to the presiding Sephardi rabbi in Jerusalem, dates from the 17th century. Since the establishment of Britain's Palestine Mandate after World War I, Israel has had a dual Chief Rabbinate headed by the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi and the Rishon Le-Tsiyyon.

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