Rabbi Joseph Haim Sitruk, who served as Chief Rabbi of France from June 1987 to June 22, 2008, passed away at age 72. Born in Tunis, Sitruk graduated with an ordination from Seminaire Rabbinique of France in 1970, and was appointed Rabbi of Strasbourg. In 1975, Joseph Sitruk became Chief Rabbi of Marseille. He was later given the post of assistant to the Chief Rabbi of France, Rabbi Max Warchawski, and in 1987 was elected to the post of Chief Rabbi as successor to Sephardi Chief Rabbi René Sirat. Sitruk was only the second Sephardi chief rabbi of France. He was elected to serve three 7-year terms altogether, until in 2008 he lost his bid for a fourth term to Rabbi Gilles Bernheim, who had previously run against him in 1994 and failed.
In 2001 Rabbi Sitruk suffered a stroke and after his recovery took the additional name Haim, following the traditional Jewish protection against illness by altering or changing one’s name.
Rabbi Sitruk left a wife and nine children.
Stéphanie Le Bars wrote in Le Monde back in 2008 that despite his being Orthodox, which means he did not hold religious and a moral authority over all Jews in France, his charisma earned him a certain reverence, especially among Sephardi Jews.