Rabbi Mordechai Sevy

Kehal Kadosh Tehilat Yerushalayim, Thornhill, Ontario, Canada

(Thornhill, Ontario) Mar 29, 2006

Rabbi Mordechai Sevy is the rabbi of Kehal Kadosh Tehilat Yerushalayim in Thornhill, Ontario. Serving this community of more than three hundred families, Rabbi Sevy is extremely active in both adult and youth education. He lectures weekly on a wide variety of topics including: Jewish History, Parshat Hashavua, Tanach, Kaballah, Chulin and Shchita.

Prior to assuming his current position, Rabbi Sevy served as the education director of the Ohr Haemet School in Toronto.

Rabbi Sevy has been a member of the RCA since 2000 and a member of the Sephardic Rabbinate of Ontario since 1998.

In 1972, Rabbi Mordechai Sevy received his Smicha from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Chief Rabbi, Hacham Mordechai Eliyahu of Yerushalayim.

Rabbi Mordechai Sevy served in the IDF both as a Chaplain of the Air Force Units in Western Sinai and as Chief Chaplain of the 7th Armored Brigade. He was instrumental in creating cohesive groups of committed soldiers who dedicated time for both Tefila and Torah Study. During the Yom Kippur War, Rabbi Sevy was directly involved in the IDF's chevra kadisha in the Sinai desert and coordinated the last honors for fallen soldiers.

In 1976, after his honorable discharge from the army as a Lieutenant (Res.) he studied at the Telshe Yeshiva in Chicago. Later, he served as the chairman of the Hebrew Language Department at Yeshivat Shaarei Torah of Monsey, NY under the direction of Rabbi Berel Wein. In 1982, Rabbi Sevy completed a B.A. in psychology and Foreign languages. He later continued a series of courses toward a postgraduate degree in history and political science at the Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. While in Halifax, Rabbi Sevy served as a youth director, Talmud instructor, Rebbe and guidance counselor. Afterward, he went on to become the Rabbi of the New South Wales Association of Sephardim in Sydney, Australia. While in Sydney, he directed and instructed their first Rabbinical Semicha Program.

Rabbi Sevy is married to Rachel Leah (Halon) and together they have seven children: Yitzhak Aryeh, Miriam Shlomzion, Yael Ziona, Rephael, David Ben-Zion, Uria Yona, and Shai Ya'akov.