Jabbar Choheili

Jabbar Choheili held the Mandaean clergical ranks of Ganzibra (head priest) and Rishama (patriarch), the highest Mandaean clergical rank. He was born in 1923 in the city of Ahvaz, Khuzestan Province, Iran into the Kuhailia (Persian pronunciation "Choheili") clan. His malwasha (baptismal name) is Mhatam Yuhana (Classical Mandaic: ࡌࡄࡀࡕࡀࡌ ࡉࡅࡄࡀࡍࡀ; full name: Rabbi Ganzibra Mhatam Yuhana bar Sharat; also known as Mhatam Yuhana bar Yahya; or in Arabic: Shaikh Jabar, the son of Ṭawoos) (note: Mandaeans typically have both a birth name and a baptismal name). In 1948, he traveled from Iran to Qal'at Saleh, Iraq to become initiated as a tarmida by Sheikh Abdullah, son of Sh. Sam. Sh. Jabbar. After he was ordained, Jabbar Choheili completely copied the Ginza Rabba by hand.[3] Carlos Gelbert's Ginza Rabba (2011, 2021) is primarily based on the "Mhatam Yuhana Ginza" (2004).[4][5]

Ganzibra Jabbar Choheili was the chairman and secretary general of the Mandaean Council of Ahvaz. He was also a goldsmith by profession.

He died on the morning of Sunday, December 27, 2014. He was buried in a Mandaean cemetery in Ahvaz.[6][7][8]

Jabbar Choheili's sons are the priests Tarmida Najah Choheili and Ganzibra Salah Choheili,[3] who is currently the head of the Mandaean community in Australia.[9]^{: xxvii–xxxii}

Jabbar Choheili's cousin, Taleb Doraji (born 1937 in Ahvaz), is a goldsmith who owns a jewellery shop in the Ahvaz bazaar. He became a tarmida in 1998 and later attained the rank of ganzibra.[10]

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  Mandaean priests preparing for the funeral ceremony of Jabbar Choheili in Ahvaz, Iran
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  The Sheikh Jabbar Tawusi jewellery shop (طلاسازی شيخ جبار طاوسی), owned by Ganzibra Taleb Doraji in Ahvaz, Iran, is named in honor of his cousin Jabbar Choheili.
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  Portrait of Jabbar Choheili displayed at the Ganzibra Dakhil Mandi in Liverpool, New South Wales, Australia

• Salah Choheili, the current Mandaean patriarch in Australia and son of Jabbar Choheili
• Yahya Bihram, a 19th-century Mandaean priest (from Iraq)
• Dakhil Aidan, the Mandaean patriarch from 1917 to 1964 (from Iraq)
• Sattar Jabbar Hilo, the current Mandaean patriarch in Iraq