Apr 19, 2013

Rav Ovadiah for Chief Rabbi

Since it looks like there might be a deal between Shas and HaBayit HaYehudi regarding the changing of some laws in order for each to be able to run a specific candidate for the position of Chief Rabbi, and that each would support the other's candidate, the talk has been all about Rav Amar being the candidate for Sephardic Chief Rabbi, and Rav Lau being the candidate for Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi. If Rav Lau would throw his name into the hat, he would immediately be the frontrunner, no matter who Habayit Hayehudi would support.

To do this, two details need to be changed in the law:

  1. waiving of the age limitation of 70 years
  2. waiving of the clause allowing the chief rabbi to only serve one term in the position.
Right now it is speculation as to whether or not Rav Lau will run, but yesterday he suddenly became the leading candidate.

I do not think Rav Lau should be the story of the election, even if he will run. I think Shas should drop their support for Rav Amar, and promote Rav Ovadiah for the position of Sephardic Chief Rabbi (if the laws will be amended as expected). 

Rav Ovadiah would take it in a landslide, he would invigorate the people and bring back Shas support, there is nobody as great as him or have even close to his stature, and it would, in his eyes at least, right a historical wrong - from when the law was changed in 1980 to prevent him from running for a 2nd term. 




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4 comments:

  1. MarkApril 19, 2013 5:36 PM

    I'm not sure ROY is a good candidate anymore, isn't there a clear possibility that he is suffering from age-related diminished mental faculties or dementia?

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  2. Meir SApril 20, 2013 10:25 PM

    I agree with mark. Firstly, he became the mentor of a political part, Shas, which disqualify him. Secondly, his comments about Bayit Yehudi during theelections being Bayit shel Goyim, also make him posul.

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  3. JoshApril 21, 2013 3:33 AM

    Rav Ovadia Yosef is indeed over 90 yrs old and despite #1 comment, is fully capable mentally but physically not able to take the position and it's required work load. Good blog post though, the idea would definitely be worthy of a few hundred words of spin in the secular tabloids for a day or two :-)

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  4. AnonymousApril 23, 2013 5:06 AM

    This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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