The deadline for candidates to register for the Jerusalem Chief Rabbinate race has passed. To the surprise of many, there are far more candidates than most believed would be the case.

The deadline passed at midnight Wednesday and to the surprise of many, a number of rabbonim entered the race for both position, Chief Ashkenazi and Chief Sephardi Rabbi of the capital.

In the race for Chief Sephardi Rabbi, the candidates are;

1. Rabbi Shlomo Amar,

2. Rabbi Chaim Amsellem,

3. Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu,

4. Rabbi Mordechai Toledano,

5. Rabbi Mordechai Malka (Chief Rabbi of Elad),

6. Rabbi Moshe Mordechai Maimon (A dayan in the Giyur Beis Din. He is over 70 and not eligible under law),

7. Rabbi Yehuda Chaik (Rav in Katzrin),

8. Rabbi Mordechai Entebbe (Rav in Beit HaKerem, Yerushalayim),

9. Rabbi Mordechai Malka (Rav of Be’er Tuvia Regional Council and an av beis din),

10. Rabbi Yehuda Deri (Chief Rabbi of Beersheva)

In the race for Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, the candidates are;

1. Rabbi Aryeh Stern,

2. Rabbi Eliyahu Schlesinger,

3. Rabbi Yaakov Shapira,

4. Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau

5. Rabbi Yehuda Rosenthal (Mo”tz in Beis Din of Chanichei Yeshivos of Rabi Mordechai Gross Shlita of Bnei Brak)

6. Rabbi Avraham Chanoch Kutiner (A posek in Bnei Brak),

7. Rabbi Yehuda Zender

8. Rabbi Eliyahu Dovid Rosenthal (A dayan in Petach Tikvach)

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)