Rabbanei Tzohar has decided to enter the race for Sephardi and Ashkenazi chief rabbis and hopes to announce the organization’s candidates. The elections will take place in about a half year, at which time the chief rabbis of Israel will be elected for a ten-year term in office.
Tzohar rabbonim feel that it is time to place a dati leumi Zionist rav in the positions, and towards that goal, it will hold internal elections and then announced the Tzohar candidates for the post.
According to the Haaretz report, the likely candidate for the Ashkenazi rav is Rav David Staff, who heads the Hesder Yeshivot Organization as well as Rabbanei Tzohar.
Tzohar feels the Chief Rabbinate should be removed from the hands of chareidim and returned to the Zionists, and they have decided to make an effort in the upcoming election.
150 people elect the chief rabbis, including rabbonim, elected officials, cabinet representatives and religious council representatives. The problem Tzohar faces is that the religious councils are by-and-large run by chareidim today so they are fighting an uphill battle.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
This would be a wonderful thing for Klal Yisroel, that the Chief Rabbis would be talmidei chachamim that their own constituencies (both Dati and non-Dati)will be able to look up to and relate to.
This is the way it should be — and why Rav Mordechai Eliyahu’s being Chief Rabbi in his time was a Kiddush Hashem.