Police raided the office of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel Rabbonus Testing Unit, the unit responsible for testing candidates for semicha on the various levels, Galei Tzahal (Army Radio) reports.

According to the report filed by correspondent Oriyah Elyakim, the State Prosecutor’s Office about two months ago began probing a complaint against the Chief Rabbinate unit alleging people in the unit close to the Shas party and the office of Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita were certified as rabbonim in a fraudulent fashion. Putting mildly, some persons certified as rabbonim did not pass the test on their own as required.

According to the report, the suspicions against them, those under suspicion succeeded in passing tests for rabbinical ordination in record-breaking time, leading to questions regarding the validity of their ordination.

At present, the investigation is focusing around the son of a senior well-known rav from northern Israel who is affiliated with Shas, a well-known Shas activist from Rishon L’Tzion, and a person very close to Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita. According to the allegations, they passed various levels of testing by the Chief Rabbinate. What prompted the concerns was the fact that one of them completed the exams and was cited for excellence despite having completed them in less than two years while most candidates require over five years.

It is pointed out that in the previous Knesset, then Deputy Minister of Religious Services (Bayit Yehudi) Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan placed the testing and grading of exams in the hands of a third party, an outside agency and not the Chief Rabbinate. In the current Knesset, Minister of Religious Services (Shas) David Azoulai has placed responsibility for grading exams back in the hands of the Chief Rabbinate while a third party still administers them.

In response to the report, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel released the following statement. “The Chief Rabbinate of Israel maintains good working practices in all departments and branches throughout the years, proper and appropriate management. The moment the Chief Rabbinate became aware of the investigation that focuses on 2011, police were informed we will cooperate in any way possible. We believe and are hopeful that suspicions will be removed regarding improper acts by officials in the Chief Rabbinate”.

Police searched the homes and offices of some of the suspects and a number of arrests were made.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)