Shas mentor’s son may be ineligible for chief rabbi race

Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein announced on Sunday that his office was asked to investigate whether Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the son of Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef, is an eligible candidate for the position of Sephardic chief rabbi.

According to Walla news, it has been several years since the younger Yosef has renewed his rabbinical license as required by Israeli law.

Last week, the elder Yosef transferred his support for the position to his son Yitzhak from his other son, Rabbi Avraham Yosef, the chief rabbi of Holon. Avraham was questioned last Wednesday for over eight hours by police, on suspicion that he committed a breach of trust while serving on the city rabbinate. He is suspected of illegally firing a kashrut supervisor from the Tel Aviv suburb four years ago.

Police said that the supervisor was dismissed over his opposition to the Shas party and the Beit Yosef kosher food supervision service, owned by Yosef’s brother, Moshe Yosef. The supervisor supported Ashkenazi Haredi party United Torah Judaism instead, according to a Haaretz report.

Following the incident, a Labor Court found the Holon rabbi guilty of a non-criminal offense and ordered him to pay compensation to the supervisor.

In the past few weeks, police have renewed the investigation of the matter, apparently after new evidence was discovered.

Also on Sunday, Rabbi Yehuda Deri, another Sephardic chief rabbi candidate, withdrew his candidacy. Deri, whose brother Aryeh is the current chairman of the Shas party, told Israel Radio that while he was disappointed over the lack of his brother’s support for his candidacy, he understood that the party chairman must show loyalty to Ovadia Yosef, and throw his support behind that candidate chosen by the nonagenarian rabbi.

A bill sponsor by MK Zvulun Kalfa (Jewish Home party), known as the Amar-Ariel Bill, would allow chief rabbis to serve more than one 10-year term, thus enabling current Sephardi chief rabbi Shlomo Amar to remain in his position. In May, hours before ministers were set to vote on the bill, Kalfa shelved it when he realized that it lacked the support necessary to pass.

The bill would also allow candidates over the age of 70 to run for the position of chief rabbi, which would pave the way for Yaakov Ariel, currently the chief rabbi of Ramat Gan, to announce his candidacy.

Kalfa had struck a deal with the Sephardi religious party Shas, which agreed to support the bill if it included a provision that would allow Amar to stay in office.

Ariel, 76, is a respected figure in the religious Zionist community, and many religious leaders believe that he would be a more acceptable candidate among the ultra-Orthodox than candidate David Stav, who’s perceived as being more liberal.

Adiv Sterman contributed to this report.