Rabbi Stav
Rabbi StavYoni Kempinski

Religious Zionist candidate for the post of Chief Rabbi, Rabbi David Stav, explained Sunday what changes are needed in the present bureaucracy.

Rabbi Stav told Arutz Sheva that he is hoping "to release" the position of chief rabbi "from the political powers that held that position for the past few decades."

He was referring to the fact that hareidi rabbis held the post for the last two terms of ten years each.

Regarding his efforts to gain popular support for the initiative, Rabbi Stav said, "The biggest surprise is to see how many people want a change and want to help. We want to shift the face of the Chief Rabbinate toward klal yisrael, toward the entire society. We want to make it relevant for the rest of society and to reduce bureaucracy."

The two other religious Zionist candidates for the post are Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, dean of the religious Zioinist flagship yeshiva, Merkaz Harav Kook in Jerusalem and Rabbinic Court Judge Eliezer Igra of Kfar Maimon.