History
Shas was founded in 1984 prior to the elections to the eleventh Knesset in the same year, in protest over the small representation of Sephardim in the largely Ashkenazi Agudat Yisrael, through the merger of regional lists established in 1983. It was originally known as The Worldwide Sephardic Association of Torah Guardians (Hebrew: התאחדות הספרדים העולמית שומרי תורה, Hitahdut HaSfaradim HaOlamit Shomrei Torah). The party was formed under the leadership of former Israeli chief Sephardi rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who established a seven-member Council of Torah Sages and remains the party's spiritual leader today. In founding the party, Yosef received strategic help and guidance from rabbi Elazar Shach, the leader of Israel's non-Hasidic Haredi Ashkenazi Jews.
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