Jerusalem – Ashkenazim, Sephardim Fight over Chief Rabbinate Appointments

Jerusalem – A dispute between Sephardi and Ashkenazi rabbis over the appointment of Shas mentor Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s son has prevented the two camps from joining forces to take control of the Chief Rabbinate’s governing council.

Next Tuesday, a voting body of 150 rabbis and public servants will convene to vote for the Chief Rabbinate’s governing council (moetzet harabanut harashit), the final authority on issues such as criteria for kosher supervision, deciding who is a Jew for the purpose of marriage and the appointment of new rabbis and marriage registrars.

One of the issues waiting to be decided by the governing council is whether or not to allow rabbis who already receive a salary from the state to enjoy additional sources of income from conducting weddings, giving lectures or providing kashrut supervision.

If they were to cooperate, Shas, which represents Sephardi haredi Jewry, and the two Ashkenazi haredi parties, Degel Hatorah and Agudath Yisrael, would enjoy a majority in the 150-person voting body.

However, Degel Hatorah and Agudath Yisrael refuse to form a united voting bloc with Shas in protest against Shas’s candidate Rabbi Avraham Yosef, the chief rabbi of Ashdod and the son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the supreme halachic authority for Ashkenazi haredim, ordered his representatives to oppose the appointment of Avraham Yosef.

“Rabbi Elyashiv told us that he would support any other of Rabbi Ovadia’s sons, just not Avraham,” said a source in the rabbinate close to Rabbi Elyashiv.

Elyashiv’s opposition to Rabbi Avraham Yosef is primarily due to his position on laws governing the Sabbatical (shmita) year.

Rabbi Avraham Yosef personally oversaw implementation of a controversial halachic ruling called “heter mechira.”

According to heter mechira, land in Israel is sold to non-Jews for the duration of the shmita year, thus enabling Jewish farmers to continue to work the land as usual.

Rabbi Elyashiv and rabbis associated with him adamantly opposed heter mechira.

Meanwhile, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is resolute in his demand that Shas affiliates within the Chief Rabbinate support the appointment of his son.

With Sephardim and Ashkenazim at loggerheads over Yosef’s appointment, religious Zionists, who make up the third camp within the chief rabbinate, are hoping to get three of their candidates elected.

Chief Rabbi of Shoham David Stav, who is also spokesman for the Hesder Yeshivot and a senior member of Tzohar Rabbis, is one of three candidates representing religious Zionists.

The chief rabbi of Kiryat Shmona, Tzfania Drori, and the chief rabbi of Safed, Shmuel Eliyahu, are also running.

In addition to Avraham Yosef, Shas is also supporting former Shas MK Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz, and Rabbi Shimon Ben-Shimon.

Elyashiv’s camp is supporting Rabbi Moshe Rauchverger, a neighborhood rabbi in the Haifa area and head of the Association of Neighborhood Rabbis, the chief rabbi of Migdal Haemek, Yitzhak David Grossman, known as the “disco rabbi” for his outreach work with youth at pubs and discos, and Chief Rabbi of Rehovot Simcha Cohen Kook.

A total of 10 rabbis – five Ashkenazi and five Sephardi – will be chosen to sit on the chief rabbinate’s governing council for a five-year term. In addition to the 10 elected rabbis, there are also five additional rabbis who are members of the council. These include the two chief rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yonah Metzger, and the chief rabbis of the nation’s largest cities Rabbi Israel Meir Lau (Tel Aviv), Rabbi Shlomo Chelouche (Haifa) and Rabbi Yehuda Deri (Beersheba). Jerusalem does not have a chief rabbi.

Half of the 150-person voting body that will choose the 10 rabbis is made up public officials: the mayors of the nation’s 25 largest cities, heads of the six largest local councils, the heads of the four largest regional councils, the heads of the 14 largest religious councils and the heads of the religious councils belonging to the four largest local councils.

The other half of the voting body is made up of the chief rabbis of the the largest cities, local and regional councils and moshavim.

The size of local and regional councils and cities is determined by the size of the Jewish population.

In addition, two government ministers, five MKs and 10 public officials appointed by Religious Affairs Minister Yitzhak Cohen (Shas) also make up the voting body.