Rabbi Yosef Bitton was born in Argentina in 1961. He pursued his religious studies at Yeshiva Midrash Sefaradi in the Old City of Jerusalem and received his rabbinic ordination from Israel’s Superior Rabbinate (Hekhal Shelomo) in 1985. He also received his Dayanut ordination in 1998 from leading Sephardic Rabbis in Israel, including Rabbi Obadiah Yosef. Rabbi Bitton studied at several respected universities as well, including Yeshiva University in New York and Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Bar Ilan University in Israel (Talmud, Hebrew language and Biblical studies) and studied for his Master of Arts degree in Judeo-Spanish literature at Ben Gurion University. In 2003 he started his studies for the Ph.D at the Graduate Department of Religion in Emory University, Atlanta.
Rabbi Bitton served as the rabbi of two large Sephardic congregations in Buenos Aires, Argentina until 1996. He then moved to Israel, taking with him 40 families from the Syrian congregation Agudat Dodim in Buenos Aires. After working for of few years in the Yeshiva Madait (Scientific Yeshiva) in Rishon LeTsion he was offered to move back to South America where he served as the Chief Rabbi of Uruguay for four years. In 2004, Rabbi Bitton moved to New York where he currently works for the Mashadi Jewish Community of Great Neck, a Persian congregation of more than a thousand families. Rabbi Bitton is fluent in three languages: Spanish, Hebrew and English. He has published several books and many articles. He has also directed several important community projects and created many workshops directed at audiences of various age groups and backgrounds.