Lead candidate for chief rabbi in legal hot water due to unkosher loan — report
Nonprofit run by Rabbi Micha Halevi loaned NIS 100,000 to company that pays kashrut inspectors in Petah Tikva, where he heads local rabbinate; chief rabbi vote set for Sunday
One of the top candidates in Sunday’s vote for Israel’s chief rabbi could face legal trouble after a non-profit organization he leads was found to have loaned money to a company that gives religious services to Petah Tikva, where he heads the local rabbinate, Hebrew media reported Friday.
Citing an internal audit by Petah Tikva’s religious council — the municipal body in charge of the central city’s religious services — the Walla news site said an NPO founded by Rabbi Micha Halevi loaned NIS 100,000 ($27,000) to a company that employs Petah Tikva’s kashrut inspectors, who ensure kosher-certified restaurants comply with ritual standards.
The loan ostensibly puts Halevi, a leading contender to be Israel’s next Ashkenazi chief rabbi, in an illegal conflict of interest, Walla said.
According to Walla, the Petah Tikva municipality — where Halevi has been Ashkenazi chief rabbi since 2012 — founded the kashrut company to pay inspectors’ salaries. In other localities, the inspectors are paid by the restaurants they inspect, leading to potential conflicts of interest.
Walla said the company has struggled financially in recent years, forcing it to take loans.
One of the loans came from Aviv HaTorah, which Halevi founded in 1990 to fund his educational activities in Tel Aviv. The organization underwrites Halevi’s Tel Aviv-based Ateret Nechemiah Yeshiva and weekly study sessions in the city for women and girls.
Walla reported that Shalom Shimon, the chairman of the Petah Tikva kashrut company, is the father of Aviv HaTorah’s chief executive, Moshe Shimon, who was also said to have made a personal loan to the municipal company.
A spokesman for Halevi denied the loan from Aviv HaTorah was illegal, saying the allegations were part of a campaign to besmirch Halevi ahead of Sunday’s elections for chief rabbinate.
The elections, held every 10 years, are conducted among a body of 140 religious leaders and lawmakers. The vote was delayed for several months amid the High Court’s demand — ignored by the Chief Rabbinate — that women be included among the religious leaders.
Halevi has secured the support of both the Sephardic ultra-Orthodox Shas party and the far-right Religious Zionism faction, which hopes to weaken ultra-Orthodox parties’ decades-long domination of the Chief Rabbinate.
The century-old body oversees marital laws, burial rites, rabbinic courts and kosher certifications.
Halevi himself is associated with Jerusalem’s Har HaMor Yeshiva, considered a bellwether for the Religious Zionist community’s conservative wing.
