Elazar Shach
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Elazar Menachem Man Shach (Hi-pek-lâi-gí: אלעזר מנחם מן שך , Elazar Shach ; January 1 , 1899 O .S . – November 2, 2001) was a prominent ultra-Orthodox rabbi, heading the non - Hasidic Litvak Orthodox from the early 1970s until his death . He served as chair of the Council of Sages, and as one of three co-deans of the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, along with Shmuel Rozovsky and Dovid Povarsky. Due to his differences with the Hasidic leadership of the Agudat Yisrael political party , he allied with Ovadia Yosef, with whom he founded the Shas party in 1984 . Later , in 1988, Shach sharply criticized Ovadia Yosef , saying that, " Sepharadim are not yet ready for leadership positions" and subsequently founded the Degel HaTorah political party representing the Litvaks in the Israeli Knesset,.