Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and Rishon LeTzion Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron concluded their 10-years terms in office yesterday. The elections for Israel's new Chief Rabbis, which were supposed to have been held earlier this week, have been postponed until April 14th. Until then, Haifa's Chief Rabbi She'ar-Yashuv Cohen, the most senior member of the Chief Rabbinical Council, will serve as Chief Rabbi of Israel.
Rabbi Cohen is the son of the Nazir, Rabbi David Cohen, one of the leading students of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook. The acting Chief Rabbi, brother-in-law of a previous Chief Rabbi, the late Rabbi Shlomo Goren, is associated with many public causes including interfaith meetings with leaders of Christianity, Islam, and other religions; a proposal to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount; early efforts for the release of Jonathan Pollard; vegetarianism; Jewish education in the Diaspora; and much more.
Outgoing Chief Rabbi Lau is a survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp. After losing both his parents in the Holocaust, he immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1946, where he studied at a state religious school in Kiryat Shmuel, then at Yeshivat Kol Torah in Jerusalem, Ponovezh in Bnei Brak, and elsewhere. He was Chief Rabbi of Netanya for ten years and of Tel Aviv for five years before assuming the post of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel in 1993. He is the author of a work on practical Halakhic Judaism, and a two-volume work entitled Yachel Yisrael on medicine, ethics and Jewish customs.
Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, the outgoing Chief Sephardic Rabbi - the position of Rishon LeTzion - studied at the national-religious "LeDugmah" School in Jerusalem, Yeshivat HaDarom in Rehovot, and Hevron Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He was appointed to the position of Chief Rabbi of Bat Yam in 1972, and served as Chief Rabbi of Haifa in 1975 until he assumed the post of Rishon LeTzion in 1993. He is the author of a three-volume work of Jewish law and thought entitled Binyan Av.
In the upcoming elections, it appears that Rabbi Shlomo Amar, 55 - Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv - will become the new Rishon LeTzion, while Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel and northern Tel Aviv Rabbi Yonah Metzger are running a tight race for the position of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi. The election board comprises 150 members, including two representatives of the government (Ministers Zevulun Orlev and Gideon Ezra); five MKs (Ben-Lulu (Likud), Peretz (Shas), Gafni (United Torah Judaism), Herzog (Labor), and Yahalom (NRP)); mayors of 25 cities and several large local councils; religious council heads; ten appointees by the Minister of Religious
Affairs; and others.
Rabbi Cohen is the son of the Nazir, Rabbi David Cohen, one of the leading students of Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak HaCohen Kook. The acting Chief Rabbi, brother-in-law of a previous Chief Rabbi, the late Rabbi Shlomo Goren, is associated with many public causes including interfaith meetings with leaders of Christianity, Islam, and other religions; a proposal to build a synagogue on the Temple Mount; early efforts for the release of Jonathan Pollard; vegetarianism; Jewish education in the Diaspora; and much more.
Outgoing Chief Rabbi Lau is a survivor of the Buchenwald concentration camp. After losing both his parents in the Holocaust, he immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1946, where he studied at a state religious school in Kiryat Shmuel, then at Yeshivat Kol Torah in Jerusalem, Ponovezh in Bnei Brak, and elsewhere. He was Chief Rabbi of Netanya for ten years and of Tel Aviv for five years before assuming the post of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel in 1993. He is the author of a work on practical Halakhic Judaism, and a two-volume work entitled Yachel Yisrael on medicine, ethics and Jewish customs.
Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron, the outgoing Chief Sephardic Rabbi - the position of Rishon LeTzion - studied at the national-religious "LeDugmah" School in Jerusalem, Yeshivat HaDarom in Rehovot, and Hevron Yeshiva in Jerusalem. He was appointed to the position of Chief Rabbi of Bat Yam in 1972, and served as Chief Rabbi of Haifa in 1975 until he assumed the post of Rishon LeTzion in 1993. He is the author of a three-volume work of Jewish law and thought entitled Binyan Av.
In the upcoming elections, it appears that Rabbi Shlomo Amar, 55 - Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv - will become the new Rishon LeTzion, while Ramat Gan Chief Rabbi Yaakov Ariel and northern Tel Aviv Rabbi Yonah Metzger are running a tight race for the position of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi. The election board comprises 150 members, including two representatives of the government (Ministers Zevulun Orlev and Gideon Ezra); five MKs (Ben-Lulu (Likud), Peretz (Shas), Gafni (United Torah Judaism), Herzog (Labor), and Yahalom (NRP)); mayors of 25 cities and several large local councils; religious council heads; ten appointees by the Minister of Religious
Affairs; and others.