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Oct 19, 2014

thoughts on the chief rabbinate race of Jerusalem

I still don't have much of an opinion about the race for the position of chief rabbi of Jerusalem. All the rabbis who have thrown their hats into the race seem to me to be reputable people with integrity and the smarts and leadership skills to do the job well.

My thoughts about it:
1. I think the members of the Lau family are very talented rabbis. If Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau will win, I am sure he will be a great chief rabbi and will surely do a great job. It does concern me to see his brother in the position of chief rabbi of Israel, his father as chief rabbi of Tel Aviv and formerly of Israel, and him possibly taking the Jerusalem spot..
It makes it seem like the rabbinate is basically a family business, and nobody without the right family name or connections has a chance of succeeding. I dont know that he should be punished because of his name, but I also dont know that he should succeed just because of his name... it concerns me to have another Lau right now in such a major position.

2. yes, I know that is already the situation on the sefardi side of the chief rabbinate. you have to mostly be a member of a select few families to get any of the major positions. I have written about this in the past, though right now the sefardi side is less relevant.

3. I find it ironic that it seems like the haredi parties will probably be supporting Rav Shmuel Eliyahu who has mostly been considered a dati leumi rabbi until now, while the dati leumi will probably be supporting Rav Shlomo Amar who has mostly been considered a haredi rabbi until now.



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1 comment:

  1. It probably points to the fact that R' Shmuel Eliyahu is old-school, proper Dati-Leumi, as it was always supposed to be, not a Bennettonian

    ReplyDelete

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