Rabbi Michael Azose

Rabbi Michael Azose, Jerusalem, Israel

(Evanston, Illinois) Oct 28, 2015

Rabbi Michael Azose was born in Seattle, Washington, a city that has long boasted one of North America's strongest and most self confident Sephardic communities and where both his grandfathers served as rabbis of the Turkish Sepharadim.

Rabbi Azose received his Smicha from the Hebrew Theological College in Skokie, Illinois in 1965. He is a graduate of Roosevelt University where in that same year he completed a B.S. degree in Psychology. He served as the rabbi of the Sephardic Congregation in Evanston, Illinois (in the Chicago area) for over thirty years, as well as serving as the educational director of Congregation Knesset Israel Nussach Sefarad of West Rogers Park.

Rabbi Azose has been a member of the RCA since 1983. He has chaired RCA conventions and has led discussions at these events as well. He also served in a variety of local and national organizations, such as the board of the Association of Sephardic Rabbis. He is a past President of the Chicago Rabbinical Council, past Chairman of the Association for Torah Advancement, a founding board member of ARK (provides services for the needy), founding member of the Chicago chapter of the World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries a board member of the American Sephardic Federation and the former Chicago director of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America.

Rabbi Azose is also a founding member of the first Sephardic Hebrew Day School in the Midwest.

Rabbi Azose is married to Bonnie (Rubinoff) and now lives in Israel. He has three children: Rabbi Yaakov, Meira, and Nehama; and twelve grandchildren.