After a number of rounds of attempted deal-making, it appears unlikely that the agreement supported by Rabbi Chaim Druckman Shlita between Shas and Bayit Yehudi will be agreed upon by the parties. The agreement demands Shas support for the candidacy of Rabbi Yaakov Ariel Shlita for the post of Ashkenazi chief rabbi and that Shas support the effort to permit Rishon L’tzion Rabbi Moshe Shlomo Amar Shlita to serve a second term.
Prominent dati leumi community posek Rabbi Tzefanya Drori Shlita told a meeting of senior dati leumi rabbonim earlier in the week he does not see the deal moving forward. Rav Drori, who serves as chief rabbi of Kiryat Shmona, will support Rabbi David Stav if the deal is abandoned. Rav Drori feels that Rav Stav “is a talmid chacham and the right man for the job.”
Other rabbonim present, including Rabbi Aaron Lichtenstein Shlita and Rabbi Nachum Rabinowitz Shlita reportedly are not favoring Rav Stav’s candidacy.
Speaking with Kikar Shabbat on Wednesday, 28 Iyar 5773, Shas leader Aryeh Deri signaled that if the laws that must be modified to accommodate the deal are changed, then he believes it could work. He added that he does not believe they will succeed in amending the law to lift the 70-year-old age ceiling for candidate to permit Rav Ariel to run.
Deri adds that he spoke with MKs from The Movement, Bayit Yehudi and Yesh Atid, “and they want Rav Stav”. Therefore he does not believe the law permitting Rav Ariel to announce his candidacy will be amended to permit the deal to be actualized.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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2 Responses
Depends on who Deri spoke to, many BY MKs support Rav Ariel..
#1- The article is somewhat confused (and Deri is a questionable source).
The MKs of HaBayit HaYehudi are happy with both harav Ariel and harav Stav. The problem is that most of their coalition partners openly favor harav Stav and are unwilling to pass a special law which will allow harav Ariel to be appointed. Most of their coalition partners are also opposed to a special law which will allow harav Amar to be appointed for a second term but may back it anyway if they get harav Stav as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi in return.
As things stand now (sadly, in my opinion) harav Ariel is unlikely to be the next Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi.