Ahead of this week’s expected announcement of a date for the elections for Jerusalem’s chief rabbis, Rabbis Aryeh Stern and Yitzchak Yosef met. Rav Stern is the leading contender for the slot of Ashkenazi chief rabbi of the capital and Rav Yosef the Sephardi slot.
Speaking to קו החשיפות, Rav Stern expressed his disapproval over the negative reports on him in the chareidi media, explaining “to my sorrow, I do not feel at ease when I see how the chareidi media relates to me. I do not think this is correct”.
Rav Stern stated that anyone who knows him knows that his entire life surrounds learning and teaching Torah and if elected to the rabbinical spot, he would invest great efforts into building bridges between the chareidim and dati leumi camps. “I believe this will be one of my goals if elected – to open a true channel of communications between those who study Torah in the chareidi and dati leumi communities” added the rav.
The rav also addressed the meeting with Rav Y. Yosef, the author of the Yalkut Yosef, explaining they met once and the atmosphere was good. “After all, I come from the world of the beis medrash, like Rav Yosef, so if we are both elected there will be much common ground”.
He concluded that no officials from Shas or Degel HaTorah have spoken with him despite being the leading candidate for the Ashkenazi position.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
Kol hakavod. Sounds like an ish emes, ehrlich ben torah. What a dream for two Torah, Learning kehillas to be respectful of each other.
Yet those who are aware of the power of the Chief Rabbinate posititon visa vie parnassah, appointments of Rabbanim, Kashrut machgichim, etc. are never going to make peace with Rav Stern. Be aware that there has not been a Dati Leumi/Chardal Chief Rabbi in years (since Harav Shapiro zt”l) so welcome the opportunity.