A new regulation approved on Sunday demands the prime minister or a cabinet minister appointed by him must approve all trips abroad by Israel’s chief rabbis.

The cabinet in its weekly session on Sunday morning approved the move, accepting the positions of the legal advisors of the Chief Rabbinate and the government.

Attention was focused on travel abroad by the chief as a result of a Maariv newspaper story questioning the integrity of the rabbis’ trips abroad. The new arrangement was set into place in no small part as a result of the efforts of Shas leader Minister Eli Yishai.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)