Speaking with Kol Chai Radio, Kiryat Ono Chief Rabbi Ratzon Arussi announced that if the deal between Shas and Bayit Yehudi to endorse Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar Shlita and Rabbi Yaakov Ariel Shlita falls apart, he will enter the race for Sephardi chief rabbi.
Rav Arussi, who is also a member of the Chief Rabbinate’s Rabbinical Council, made his position very clear – that he will not announce his candidacy if the deal is agreed to by the parties involved, namely Shas and Bayit Yehudi. The rav told Moshe Glasner “Baruch Hashem I am receiving requests [to enter the race] from people of all walks of life since those who know me understand my path is one of Torah, and I cross the sectoral boundaries.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Amen, sounds like a workable choice.
Rav Arussi, shilta, would be an incredibly good choice. He is not part of the political establishment and has shown great creativty in dealing with the most complex halachic issues. About a year ago he developed a far-reaching program that is used today in many hospitals in EY in dealing with organ-donor issues that assures more expansive avaialability of organ donations but equally assures that halacha is strictly observed in harvesting organs for live-saving donations. B’yh, having him as the Chief Rabbi would signal a new era in the rabbanus in EY.
HaRav Ratzon Arussi shlit”a is an incredible Talmid Chacham, and many of my Chavrutot have studied by him.
He will face one minor technicality – unfortunately, the stance on Yemenite Jews is unclear, and many will say he is not fit for running for either Chief Rabbi since he doesn’t fall into the Ashkenazi or Sepharadi categories. This is not a hypothesis, rather something that has been brought up in the past at Rabbinic conventions.
All non-Ashkenazis are dumped into the Sephardi category in Israel.
Bogen, whereas that might be true in the streets, it has no precedent in the Chief Rabbi elections. The Sepharadi Chief Rabbi has been an official position for the a few hundred years now – and has never, to my knowledge, had a Yemenite Rishon LeTzion to fill it.
There is always a first time, and it would be great to have a Yemenite rishon Lzion.