Election underway for new chief rabbis, after repeated delays and political deals
Results to be announced Sunday evening; election of Ashkenazi and Sephardi religious leaders for 10-year term comes after disagreements kept roles vacant since July
Gavriel Fiske is a reporter at The Times of Israel
A group of 140 religious and civic leaders were voting Sunday in Jerusalem to pick Israel’s two new chief rabbis for the next decade, positions that have been officially vacant since July amid fierce political battles that have marred the race and repeatedly delayed the vote.
The election was taking place in person at Jerusalem’s Ramada Hotel from 2 p.m. until 7 p.m., with the results expected shortly thereafter.
The election comes after months of political stalemate that prevented the succession of the previous chief rabbis, the Ashkenazi rabbi David Lau and Sephardi rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, after their 10-year terms expired on July 1.
At the root of the standoff was the Chief Rabbinate’s refusal to honor previous court rulings that instructed it to consider appointing women to one of the categories that constitute its 150-person electing assembly.
Eventually, the High Court of Justice said that although it was still committed to its position that the category needs to be used to “diversify” the system, the election could still be held legally without the disputed category altogether.
Only 140 delegates — all men — were slated to vote, after Justice Ministry officials told the former chief rabbis that they were not to participate in the election nor to appoint delegates on their behalf, due to nepotism concerns.
By law, 80 of the 150 delegates are rabbis: 10 are personal appointees of the outgoing chief rabbis, and 70 are municipal rabbis affiliated with the Chief Rabbinate.
The 70 delegates who are not rabbis include mayors, lawmakers, cabinet ministers and other public representatives.
There are five candidates for Ashkenazi chief rabbi:
- Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau, a community rabbi in Netanya from a prominent dynasty whose brother, Rabbi David Lau, just finished his term as chief rabbi and whose father, Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, has previously been a chief rabbi of Israel and chief rabbi of Tel Aviv.
- Rabbi Micha Halevi, chief rabbi of Petah Tikva, a hardline candidate who is backed by Betzalel Smotrich’s Religious Zionism party and Aryeh Deri’s ultra-Orthodox Shas. Halevi, considered one of the leading contenders, recently received negative publicity due to a scandal involving kashrut supervision in Petah Tikva. He has also been slammed for previously promising not to run in the election.
Ashkenazi chief rabbi candidate Micha Halevi attends a graduation ceremony for ultra-Orthodox Jewish children from the Talmud Tora ‘Moriah Ways’ in Petah Tikva, on May 17, 2023. (Gershon Elinson/Flash90) - Rabbi Eliezer Igra, an experienced dayan (judge in a Jewish religious court) who has been serving on the Rabbinate’s highest religious court and was previously the head of Beersheba’s beit din (rabbinic court). Igra, a veteran of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, also serves on a body deliberating issues of Jewish law and the Israel-Hamas war.
Ashkenazi chief rabbi candidate Eliezer Igra at the funeral of Yehuda Deri, the chief rabbi of Beersheba, in Jerusalem, July 9, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90) - Rabbi Meir Kahana, head of the Jewish religious court in Ashkelon who has received backing from several prominent Religious Zionist rabbis. Kahana, a former paratrooper who is considered relatively moderate, has also been involved in the hesder yeshiva movement, which combines IDF services with Torah study. He was originally slated to be backed by Smotrich, but the latter switched his backing to Halevi.
Ashkenazi chief rabbi candidate Meir Kahana poses for a picture in Jerusalem on June 7, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90) - Rabbi Kalman Bar, the Ashkenazi city rabbi of Netanya who, despite roots in the Bnei Akiva and Religious Zionist movements, nevertheless received the backing of Degel HaTorah, an ultra-Orthodox party.
There are three candidates for Sephardic chief rabbi:
- Rabbi David Yosef, whose brother Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef recently completed his tenure in the position and whose father, the late rabbi Ovadia Yosef, also previously held the position. Yosef is the rabbi of Har Nof, a religious Jerusalem neighborhood, and is a veteran Torah teacher who is supported by Shas.
- Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, chief rabbi of Safed, a popular far-right figure whose controversial statements have made headlines in Israel and around the world. Eliyahu’s father, the late Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, has served as Sephardic chief rabbi.
Sephardi chief rabbi candidate Shmuel Eliyahu attends Lag Baomer celebrations in the northern Israeli city of Safed, May 26, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90) - Rabbi Michael Amos, a religious judge who currently leads Israel’s highest Jewish religious court and who has been officially filling in as Sephardic chief rabbi while the position is vacant.
Sephardi chief rabbi candidate Michael Amos after his appointment to Chief Rabbinical Court judge in Jerusalem, July 13, 2016. (Yaacov Cohen/Flash90)
Reportedly, Religious Zionism’s leader Smotrich and Shas head Deri have agreed to back each other’s candidates. Deri seeks to ensure that Shas retains its traditional hold on the Sephardic chief rabbi position, and Smotrich aims to break the long-time hold by the ultra-Orthodox community on the Ashkenazi chief rabbi post by electing a figure from the Religious Zionist community.
The Chief Rabbinate, a century-old body, oversees marital laws, burial rites, rabbinic courts, kosher certifications, Jewish conversions and other aspects of Jewish family and religious life in Israel.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
