Elections for Israel's Chief Rabbinate will take place Sunday at the Ramada hotel in Jerusalem, with 140 members of the voting body casting ballots, instead of the usual 150.
The vote takes place three months after the current chief rabbis' term ended, after it was decided last year to delay the vote. Voting will end at 7:00p.m. Sunday evening, at which time the counting will begin.
Following the counting, an announcement will be made regarding the identities of the winners, who will serve as Chief Rabbinate Council chief and the President of the Supreme Rabbinical Court.
Chief rabbis serve in the position for ten years.
Candidates for the position of Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi include Rabbi Meir Kahane, who was chosen by the Rabbinic Committee to represent Religious Zionism; Petah Tikva Chief Rabbi Micha HaLevi, whose candidacy was supported by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich; Rabbi Eliezer Igra, a senior judge on the Supreme Rabbinical Court; Netanya chief rabbi, Rabbi Kalman Bar; and neighborhood rabbi in Netanya, Rabbi Moshe Haim Lau.
Candidates for the position of Sephardic Chief Rabbi, also known as the "Rishon Lezion," include Tzfat's Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu; Rabbi David Yosef, son of former Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a member of Shas' Council of Torah Sages, and head of the Yechave Da'at yeshiva; and Supreme Rabbinical Court justice Rabbi Michael Amos.
According to the agreement between the Religious Zionism party and the Sephardic-haredi Shas party, both parties will vote for Rabbi Micha HaLevi for the position of Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi, and Rabbi David Yosef, for the position of Sephardic Chief Rabbi. It is uncertain whether the agreement will hold as Rabbi HaLevi was not chosen by the rabbinic committee Min. Smotrich established to pick the Religious Zionist candidate, and decided to run anyway despite all candidates signing they would respect the committee election results.