Court orders Rabbinate to announce chief rabbi election by end of September

The High Court of Justice orders the Chief Rabbinate to announce an election for new chief rabbis by October in a ruling that offers a way around an impasse over women’s representation.

The ruling is the latest development in a months-long stalemate that has prevented the succession of the previous Ashkenazi and Sephardi chief rabbis since the end of their terms on July 1.

At the root of the standoff is the Chief Rabbinate’s refusal to honor previous court rulings that instruct it to consider appointing women to one of the categories of its electing assembly of 150 people.

The reason for the refusal is that this category is defined by law as reserved for “rabbis.” In the law’s context, that designation may apply also to women versed in Jewish law, the court ruled last year on a petition, but the rabbinate is refusing to call women rabbis as per the Orthodox interpretation of Jewish law, and is therefore declining to hold an election.

In its ruling, the court asserts that it’s still committed to its position that the category needs to be used to “diversify” the system, but also states that an election may be held legally without the disputed category altogether. Sources within the Rabbinate have said they are willing to scrap the category and hold an election with an assembly of 140 delegates instead of 150.

The Rabbinate’s election committee “will set a date for the election no later than September 30, 2024,” the ruling states.