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city rabbis

Rabbi Zevadia Cohen (Religious Services Ministry)
April 26, 2026, 10:23 pm
Shas-backed candidate Zevadia Cohen appointed new chief rabbi of Tel Aviv
Rabbi selected by a 64-member committee after receiving the support of Mayor Ron Huldai
By Rossella Tercatin
Two top contenders for the position of Tel Aviv city rabbi. A special committee is set to appoint one of the candidates on April 26, 2026. Left: Rabbi Zevadia Cohen. (Wikipedia) Right: Rabbi Haim Amsalem. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
April 24, 2026, 2:38 pm
Tel Aviv set to choose new chief rabbi Sunday, with mayor said to favor Shas candidate
After a nine year vacancy, a 64-member panel will choose a candidate, with Mayor Ron Huldai reportedly striking deal with powerful Haredi party to give his support
By Rossella Tercatin
Religious Services Minister Michael Malkieli attends a session ain the Knesset plenum, April 15, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
March 9, 2025, 10:57 pm
Religious Services minister backs down from bid to control appointments of city rabbis
Following High Court petition by Tzohar and ITIM groups, Michael Malkieli rolls back regulations guaranteeing him control of selection committees
By Rossella Tercatin
Illustrative: Anti-government protesters and police stand next to the Jerusalem Rabbinate and Religious Council, May 4, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
December 20, 2024, 1:58 pm
Critics charge new regulations will hand Shas control over municipal rabbinates
‘They will actually control all the local rabbinates, all the local rabbis in Israel,’ says Rabbi David Stav from the liberal Tzohar rabbinic group
By Sam Sokol
Rabbi Yehuda Deri (R), chief rabbi of the southern city of Beersheba, at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on December 12, 2012. (Yoav Ari Dudkevitch / FLASH90)
July 10, 2024, 4:51 pm
Eyebrows raised as son of late Beersheba rabbi is declared his successor at funeral
With no apparent authority to do so, ex-Sephardic chief rabbi announces at cemetery that son of Yehuda Deri will take over his father’s role as southern city’s top rabbinical figure
By ToI Staff
Jews attend a prayer for the return of the Israeli hostages at the Western Wall on March 21, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
March 22, 2024, 2:21 pm
Daily Briefing Mar 22: Day 168 – Kotel prayer for hostages; US rabbi reports support is hard
Jewish world reporter Canaan Lidor discusses comments by Reform Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, Knesset rabbinical bill and evacuees’ struggles to return home
By ToI Staff
Likud MK Ofir Katz votes in a committee meeting in the Knesset, March 21, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
March 19, 2024, 3:01 pm
After protests, coalition refreezes bill hiking number of municipal rabbis
Likud members join National Unity and New Hope lawmakers in opposing legislation that would have given Chief Rabbinate control of cushy appointments and removed guardrails
By Canaan Lidor
Shas leader Aryeh Deri, left, walks by Ze'ev Elkin, right, in the Knesset plenum on December 25, 2023. (Yonatan Sindel/ Flash90)
March 19, 2024, 3:01 am
Bill swelling ranks of city rabbis resurfaces, testing wartime coalition
National Unity and New Hope object to bid to advance legislation boosting Chief Rabbinate and creating hundreds of new taxpayer funded posts, saying it violates power-sharing deal
By Canaan Lidor
Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau, left, attends a Chief Rabbinate Council meeting with his Sephardic counterpart Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau's father and predecessor Meir Lau, in Jerusalem on December 24, 2023. (Courtesy of the Chief Rabbinate)
January 14, 2024, 11:37 pm
High Court rules women can fill ‘rabbi’ slots in Chief Rabbinate’s top bodies
Decision stops short of imposing female representation, but angers critics who accuse the justices of ‘aggressive’ overreach
By Canaan Lidor
Erez Malul, a lawmaker for Shas, attends the coronation ceremony of Rabbi Yehuda Cohen at a synagogue in Jerusalem, July 13, 2023. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
August 2, 2023, 6:59 pm
New bill could create jobs for 1,070 rabbis, cost taxpayers tens of millions a year
Religious hardliners are among critics of the bill, which many see as part of a pact benefiting Shas and the Chief Rabbinate
By Canaan Lidor
Rabbi Zeev Weitman gives a lecture on a kosher dairy in Jerusalem, in 2019. (courtesy, Maor Hakashrut/YouTube)
July 31, 2023, 7:47 pm
In unusual move, West Bank rabbi announces referendum on his job
Rabbi Zeev Weitman’s reelection statement follows criticism of colleagues for allegedly lacking accountability
By Canaan Lidor
Illustrative: Members of Jewish Community Action attend a rally protesting the killing of George Floyd on May 31, 2020 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. (Courtesy of Carin Mrotz via JTA)
June 12, 2020, 11:34 am
WATCH: Call to action from Minnesota rabbis who attended George Floyd funeral
Rabbis Jill Crimmings and Aaron Weininger on supporting Black Lives Matter while facing challenges like heightening security as US anti-Semitism surges
By ToI Staff
A puppy dog looks into the camera in Germany, July 12, 2019. (Friso Gentsch/picture alliance via Getty Images via JTA)
July 12, 2019, 4:50 pm
All dogs are bad and their owners accursed, Israeli city’s rabbis rule
Religious edict in haredi town of Elad says canines are forbidden because they bark at people and may scare them: ‘And because of its bark it is a bad dog even if does not bite’
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Illustrative: The building of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel in Jerusalem. (Flash90)
September 6, 2017, 1:27 pm
Four arrested for fraud in bids to become city rabbis
Police suspect men forged their qualifications, sent others to take exams in their stead
By Stuart Winer
Ben Waxman
March 23, 2017, 1:05 pm
Ben Waxman
A few super rotten rabbis
He can’t quite claim that Israel’s Rabbinate is rife with corruption, but it’s far from a model for Torah ethics
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