Israel – Amsallem Presents Candidacy For Sephardi Chief Rabbi Of Jerusalem

Jerusalem – Rabbi Haim Amsallem, a former Shas MK who became an outspoken critic of the haredi establishment, formally submitted his candidacy to be Sephardi chief rabbi of Jerusalem on Monday.

Elections are scheduled for October 21, although several petitions have been filed by haredi political parties against the process since the date was announced last month.

Amsallem served as an MK for six years but had a serious falling out with the Shas leadership in 2010 for publicly criticizing the party over a highly contentious court case concerning discrimination against Sephardi haredi school girls in Immanuel.

Ever since the rabbi has frequently expressed support for policies that are at odds with the mainstream haredi political parties. He supported increasing haredi enlistment in the IDF, although objected to strict limits for the number of yeshiva students who could gain an exemption, and backed increased haredi participation in the work force.

Amsallem is also a respected authority in Jewish law and has authored several books, including one, Seed of Israel, advocating a lenient approach to the conversion of Israeli citizens of Jewish descent but not Jewish according to Jewish law.

After presenting the relevant documents to the Ministry of Religious Services, Amsallem said that Jerusalem needed a unifying rabbinic leadership and one that would help all of its residents regardless of their level of religious practice.

“We are in a period rife with religious tensions in the holy city of Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel and the Jewish world, a city in which Jews, Arabs, haredi, secular, religious and traditional people all live alongside each other.” said Amsallem.

“Extremists from any quarter and of any stripe must not be allowed to take control to stoke the fire and to undermine the integrity and the stability of this city,” he continued.

“Jerusalem is in need of tolerant and welcoming rabbinic leadership that does not belong to any particular sector or is available to one particular gender, but rather a rabbi of all Jerusalem’s citizens who can unite people and draw them close regardless of whether they wear a yarmulke, a streimel or nothing at all.”

Amsallem said that his authority as a respected and published author on numerous fields of Jewish law would allow him to “unite different factions of the Jewish people” and said he was a fitting candidate for Sephardi chief rabbi of Jerusalem.

Back in April, Amsallem joined the Likud and said he would contest primary elections for a place on the party’s electoral list for the next elections. He established the Am Shalem party ahead of the 2013 general election but did not pass the electoral threshold for entry to the Knesset.

Another possible candidate for the position of Sephardi chief rabbi of Jerusalem is former national Sephardi chief rabbi Shlomo Amar, although his associates have repeatedly denied he is interested in the job.

A bitter feud erupted between Amar and Shas chairman MK Aryeh Deri last year, after Deri stymied Amar’s efforts to be re-elected as chief rabbi.

But the Shas chairman told haredi reporters on Monday that there was no argument between the two.

“I respect everyone, I respect Rabbi Amar, there is no argument at all, there is no difference of opinion, anyone who wants to be together with us they are welcome,” the haredi news website Kikar HaShabbat reported Deri as saying.

Amar is thought to still harber aspirations as a spiritual leader with political influence, and has national recognition, credentials as an authority in Jewish law, and a degree of grassroots public support.

Some political commentators have said that Deri would like to defuse the possibility of Amar starting his own political movement by giving Shas’ backing to him for chief rabbi of Jerusalem, but it remains to be seen if the former chief rabbi is interested in the job.

Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post