The Chief Rabbinate of Israel Council on Wednesday, 10 Menachem Av 5773 approved the candidacy of Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef in the race for Rishon L’Tzion. Because the rav serves as a neighborhood rabbi and not the rabbi of a city, the approval was required. It should be pointed out that while not serving in that post, Rav Yitzchak Yosef received semicha to serve as the rav of a city in the 1970s via the fast track for talmidei chachamim, not required to take written exams.
The Justice Ministry ruled that the Chief Rabbinate is the body that will decide the suitability of candidates. Ten of the sixteen members of the council left the room before the vote due to conflicts of interest. Some of them are relatives while others are running in the race. In addition, Rav Metzger cannot vote pending the criminal case against him.
Those who voted were unanimous in their decision, that Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef is indeed a suitable candidate to become Israel’s next Rishon L’Tzion.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
It would be sad if Yosef is the designee as the new chiev Separdic Rav. Its time to make such decisions based entirely on the individual’s lamdus and leadership skills and not his father’s name. Such nepotism may arguably be relevant to assume the leadership of a chassidus when the father dies but it certainly has no relevance here.