The Amar Bill seeking to grant a current chief rabbis the ability to serve a second term was passed by the Knesset Interior Committee close to noon on Wednesday, 4 Tammuz 5773. The bill, which was believed to be defeated was revived after the Bayit Yehudi party reached a deal with Likud.

The deal permits Bayit Yehudi to appoint 15 of the members of the 150-person voting body to elect the new chief rabbis. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will only appoint 5 new members. This was the price he paid to gain Bayit Yehudi support for the Amar Bill.

The bill may now move to Knesset and in all likelihood, the bill will pass all its readings and become law by day’s end.

Six committee members supported the bill in committee while three opposed. Voting against it were MK (Yahadut Hatorah) Uri Maklev, MK (Likud) Moshe Feiglin and MK (Meretz) Zahava Gal-On.

Just this week Knesset legal advisor Eyal Yinon announced http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=172309 that he feels the Amar Bill cannot be applicable to the upcoming election if passed, for the election process has been underway. He feels it is too late to introduce such a change for the upcoming election for new chief rabbis.

The bill is intended to permit Rishon L’Tzion HaGaon HaRav Moshe Shlomo Amar to serve a second term, in line with the wishes of Maran HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef Shlita. If the bill is passed in Knesset, which will most likely be the case, it will have to be determined if it will apply in the upcoming election.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)