Zmanim According to Rav Ovadia Yosef

This method reflects Rav Ovadia Yosef’s effort to make the broad Sephardi halachic tradition practical for contemporary communities.

The rav and his community

Rav Ovadia Yosef was born in Baghdad in 1920 and came to Jerusalem as a child. He became one of the most influential Sephardi halachic authorities of the modern era and later served as Rishon LeZion. His responsa gather a vast range of earlier sources while remaining attentive to practical communal life.

The method’s character

The system preserves familiar Sephardi measures while allowing proportional intervals to change with the length of daylight. It does not force every zman into a single definition of the day.