Haïm Korsia

Haïm Korsia (born 27 September 1963) is the Chief Rabbi of France. He was elected by the Central Consistory. Korsia was also head of a rabbinical school. He was elected in June 2014 and began a seven-year term as the leader of France's Jewish community.

Early life and education

Haïm Korsia was born in Lyon, France, to Sephardi Jewish parents who had immigrated from Algeria. His father was a prominent rabbi in the city. He attended Jewish schools. Korsia has earned several advanced degrees: Master of Business Administration at Reims Management School; Master of Advanced Studies, École pratique des hautes études; and a PhD in contemporary history from University of Poitiers. He has also studied at the French Institute of Advanced Studies of Homeland Security; and the Centre for Advanced Studies on Africa and modern Asia.

Career Korsia served as a rabbi in France for more than two decades. He became head of a rabbinical school in Paris. In addition, he was appointed to serve as Jewish chaplain of the French army.

He was elected as a member of the Central Consistory, representing Jewish congregations across the country.

In 2021, he, alongside a significant cohort of other rabbis and Jewish community leaders, accused far-right presidential candidate Éric Zemmour of being an antisemite, despite Zemmour himself being Jewish.

Role of Chief Rabbi

In April 2014 Rabbi Gilles Bernheim resigned from the position as Chief Rabbi of France. He was implicated in a scandal involving accusations of plagiarism. "Bernheim admitted that he had plagiarized in two books and an essay as well as claimed unearned academic titles." The Chief Rabbi serves for a seven-year term.

Martine Cohen, an expert on Judaism at the National Center for Scientific Research in Paris, noted that Korsia's election as the chief rabbi represented a shift to a more "Modern Orthodoxy" compared to the previous conservative leanings of the Jewish Orthodox establishment.

Korsia began his new position at a time of difficulty for the French Jewish community, which is the largest Jewish community in Europe, and third after those of Israel and the United States. Since the turn of the 21st century, there has been a rise in anti-Semitic activity in France, some associated with international issues, such as the Second Intifada and other tensions in Israel/Palestine territories; economic problems for some in the community; increased emigration to Israel; and corruption among some Jewish leaders.

Korsia has embraced a more liberal position in relation to Jews born to non-Jewish mothers and Jewish fathers, calling them "seed of Israel". According to Orthodox standards, they are not considered legally Jews and would have to go through a formal conversion process to be accepted by Orthodox rabbis.

In the wake of a series of terrorist attacks in France by Muslim extremists in January 2015, in which some victims were Jewish, Rabbi Korsia called on the Jewish community to help invigorate French society's concept of fraternité (brotherhood). He rejected the idea that the solution to such attacks is emigration or capitulation. He likened current difficulties to those faced by Moses and his followers at the Red Sea: "Sometimes the only way is to enter the Red Sea – to go in and rebuild a new solidarity, rebuild links between Christians, Protestant, Catholics, Muslims, and Jews, and rebuild hope", said Korsia.

British-based news website Middle East Eye and Israeli site YNet reported that Korsia in an August 2024 BFM TV interview had urged Israel to "finish the job", and had said that violence in Gaza was "an act of war that no country in the world would conduct like Israel is doing, and I have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in how Israel is conducting the fighting."[sic] Responding in French to Korsia's remarks, Aymeric Caron Tweeted, "the masks have fallen so much in recent months".

Works Être Juif et Français : Jacob Kaplan, le rabbin de la République, Broché, Editeur : Editions Privé, 2006, À corps et à Toi, Broché, Editeur : Actes Sud, Collection : Le souffle de l'esprit, 2006, La Kabbale pour débutants, Broché, Editeur : Trajectoire, 2007,