From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Kahana urges municipal heads to appoint local rabbis while they still have the chance
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Following the postponement of a controversial coalition bill reducing local governments’ influence over the appointment of municipal rabbis, former Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana (National Unity) urges cities without a rabbi to “hurry up” and appoint one while they still retain control over the process.
You still “have the opportunity to appoint a rabbi under the existing regulations” who is “suitable for your city,” but “if you delay, it is very possible that the political alliance between [Finance Minister Bezalel] Smotrich and the ultra-Orthodox parties will bring back the law they tried to pass today, and then they will decide for you who will be your rabbi, over your heads,” Kahana says in a video message to the heads of nearly 40 local authorities posted social media.
The bill would have created hundreds of publicly funded jobs for Orthodox rabbis, while giving the Chief Rabbinate of Israel considerable say in the appointment of all new municipal rabbis, reversing changes instituted by Kahana in 2022.
