Two Jerusalem chief rabbis to be decided Tuesday

Nine candidates in the running for positions that have been vacant for over 10 years

By Marissa Newman 21 October 2014, 3:13 pm

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Marissa Newman is The Times of Israel political correspondent.

Colorful lions guard Safra Square, Jerusalem's City Hall (photo credit: Shmuel Bar-Am)

A closed vote for the appointment of Jerusalem’s Ashkenazic and Sephardic chief rabbis was set to begin on Tuesday afternoon at 4 p.m., with nine candidates in the running.

The election results will be announced Tuesday evening following a vote by the 48-member electorate at the capital’s municipality.

The positions have stood vacant since the deaths of the two previous Jerusalem chief rabbis in 2003.

The top contenders for the position of Ashkenazi chief rabbi are the ultra-Orthodox Moshe Chaim Lau (backed by Shas, United Torah Judaism) and national-religious Aryeh Stern (backed by the nationalist Jewish Home party and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat). Lau is the brother of the current Chief Rabbi of Israel David Lau, and son to the former chief rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau.

For the Sephardi leader, former chief rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar and Chief Rabbi of Safed Shmuel Eliyahu, the son of former chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, are thought to be in the lead, with the former backed by Shas and the latter by United Torah Judaism.

Rabbi Shlomo Amar, January 2013. (photo credit: Uri Lenz/Flash90)

Eliyahu has raised controversy with various anti-Arab remarks and religious rulings, leading many to call for his disqualification. He has called on Jews not to rent or sell apartments to non-Jews and been quoted as saying, “A Jew should not run away from an Arab. A Jew should chase away Arabs.”

A rally is scheduled to be held outside the municipality on Tuesday night in protest of his candidacy, and Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein — who has voiced opposition to Eliyahu’s candidacy — may yet choose to disqualify him for the position. However, when the Sephardi rabbi ran for the state rabbinical elections in June 2013, the attorney general opted against barring him from running.

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu in 2013. (photo credit: Flash90/Yonatan Sindel)

The other candidates for Sephardi chief rabbi are ex-Shas MK Haim Amsalem, and Rabbi Mordechai Toledano, the son-in-law of the late Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, Rabbi Yehuda Chaik, and Rabbi Mordechai Malka.

Rabbi Yehoshua Zand is the third candidate for Ashkenazi chief rabbi.

JTA contributed to this report.