Who Is Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto? The Religious Leader Who Met With Ye & Young Thug

The term antisemitism often gets conflated with anti-Israel sentiments, yet no one openly embraced being an actual antisemitic like Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West. Between embracing Nazis and Nazi imagery and making a song named “Heil Hitler,” Ye has gone off the deep end in a way that’s hard to ignore, and it’s even more difficult to deny that it’s impacted his creative output as well. However, it looks like he’s looking for repentance from the Jewish community after several years of going to extremes to offend them

Ye recently linked up with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto, an Israeli-Moroccan Orthodox figure whose name often appears alongside high-profile individuals who are looking for grounding, guidance, or, in Kanye’s case, forgiveness. Eight days later, Young Thug met with the same Rabbi for reasons that remain unknown.

Below, we’re diving into everything we need to know about Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto and why Ye and other celebrities meet with him for guidance.

Read More: Kanye West Reportedly Apologizing To Jewish Collaborators For Past Antisemitism

Born in Ashdod, Israel, in 1973, Pinto comes from a Moroccan rabbinic lineage and grew up immersed in Torah study and Jewish mysticism, particularly Kabbalah. He established Mosdot Shuva Israel yeshiva, an organization that developed into a network of yeshivas, charitable programs, and outreach efforts that span Israel, Morocco, and the United States. His New York base functions as both a synagogue and a private meeting space, attracting visitors from a wide range of backgrounds, many of them secular.

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Ye met with the Rabbi on November 6, inside Pinto’s Manhattan residence. A short clip circulated online showing Ye apologizing for his antisemitic comments, attributing them to an unmedicated bipolar episode and expressing a desire for unity. “I feel really blessed to sit here and take accountability,” he said, vowing to “make amends” and build “brick-by-brick” toward unity.

Pinto, via translator, welcomed Ye warmly, invoking Jewish teachings on teshuvah (repentance): “A person is not defined by his mistakes, but by how he corrects them.” He praised Ye’s sincerity, calling him “a very good man” and blessing him with “strong and good things” ahead. Considering the backlash that Ye has faced in recent years, his meeting with the Rabbi seems like an actual step toward redemption, though whether he ends up retracting that apology during an impromptu social media rant has yet to be seen.

Just days after Ye’s visit, rapper Young Thug (Jeffery Lamar Williams) met Rabbi Pinto in Manhattan, seeking spiritual guidance and a blessing post-incarceration. Unlike Ye’s meeting, no one really knows why Thug met with him except that he looked for “a blessing and guidance.” Only a photo appeared online where Thugger and Rabbi Pinto were talking, along with a translator. Thug hasn’t gotten into any controversies involving the Jewish community, so it doesn’t seem like his motives were similar to Ye’s, but it would not be surprising if it was inspired by the Chicago multihyphenate. If anything, Thug might’ve been seeking Rabbi Pinto’s blessing in the midst of his post-prison comeback story.

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In 2010, TMZ reported that LeBron James consulted Rabbi Pinto during high-stakes merchandising contract negotiations, reportedly paying a six-figure sum for the session. Arranged by retail executive Jay Schottenstein, a Pinto follower, the meeting aboard a New York yacht saw the religious leader seated alongside Lebron as he “heard presentations from several ‘big time’ retail execs,” per the report. In May 2022, James attended Schottenstein’s son’s wedding in New York where he embraced holding hands Pinto.

In 2012, Israeli police investigated Pinto for money laundering tied to a charity probe, leading to his house arrest after attempting to bribe a police official for case details. In 2014, he offered $500,000 to Brig. Gen. Ephraim Bracha, head of the National Fraud Squad, for confidential information on Shuva Israel irregularities, including embezzlement and misuse of Holocaust survivor aid funds. Sentenced to one year in prison and a 1 million shekel ($260,000) fine, he began serving in 2016.

Pinto’s efforts have yielded some major profits, making Globes report that Forbes Israel ranked him as one of Israel’s richest rabbis in 2012. Per Ynet, he has no business training or formal education in university, but Israeli businessman Ilan Ben-Dov described Pinto as having “wisdom that is unlimited.” Yoram Bilu, psychologist and sociologist of Hebrew University, said that a visit and donation to Rabbi Pinto offers “‘instant redemption’ with none of the intellectual or practical demands of the actual.” With that in mind, it might make more sense why people like Lebron, Ye and Young Thug have paid him a visit.