A meeting of the Chief Rabbinate Rabbinical Council that was scheduled for 3 Sivan 5772 was cancelled after the rabbonim walked out in apparent protest after the chief rabbi failed to attend.

The meeting called to discuss a number of matters, including criteria for giving kashrus, criteria for dayanus, criteria for being a rav of a city and other matters of importance.

The meeting was called for 09:30. Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yonah Metzger arrived about a half hour late but Chief Sephardi Rabbi Moshe Amar failed to arrive. After waiting over a half hour, the rabbonim got up and left, announcing the meeting was canceled. They were angered at the failure of Rav Amar to attend, stating they will not permit anyone to make a mockery of the forum.

Kikar Shabbat reports one of the matters on the agenda was to approve Rav Amar’s son as a dayan.

According to Rabbi Chaim Hemdinger, the secretary of the chief rabbis, the chief rabbis routinely arrive late as a matter of kovod so the chief rabbis do not have to wait for the others. He added that he was engaged in an important meeting at the time of the meeting in question and simply forgot to update Rav Amar.

Aides to Rav Amar stated the chief rabbi was already in the building and he was simply unaware there was a meeting that demanded his presence. He only learned that the rabbonim waited for him at 10:58, when it was simply too late to attend.

Aides add that regarding the forum of the Chief Rabbinical Council, Rabbi Amar is a member of the council like the others and they are capable and permitted to hold a meeting in his absence.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)