small elections, small minds

the election of the Chief Rabbis yesterday turned into an even bigger embarrassment and disaster than was expected, and far greater than it already was.

As if important rabbis breaking deals and commitments while playing politics for a job isnt bad enough.

Yesterday, as the counting of the ballots concluded, a tie was officially declared between the candidates Rav Kalman Ber and Rav Micha Halevi, each with 40 votes tallied. Due to the tie, it was officially announced that the vote would go to a second round of voting. 

Shortly after the official declaration, an additional vote was discovered in the wrong ballot box - a vote for open of the ashkenazi rabbi candidates was found in the Sefardi rabbi ballot box (it had not been noticed there during the counting of the votes for the Sefardic Chief Rabbi). The candidate whose name is on that ballot declared victory saying it should be counted as that is the will of the voter even if a mistake was made, while the other candidate claimed the vote is invalid and cannot be counted.

They will decide whatever they decide as each side in the matter will make his case, and it will probably end up in the Supreme Court. Rabbis vying for the position of Chief Rabbi should really be above such suspicions and shenanigans. the only way to fix this and retain any level of respect for the office that might still be left would probably be to void the entire election and have a do-over. It might even make sense to invalidate the current candidates who for now have left a bad stain on an office that is meant to be one of morality and faith and not one of politics and underhandedness.  This wont happen though so somehow a decision will be made, likely by the Supreme Court, and someone will be declared Chief Rabbi, and the people will continue to have less and less respect for the Chief Rabbinate than what they already had based on the embarrassments of previous years. 

It is amazing how the Ministry of Religious Affairs and the connected politicians with all their "rosh katans" could do such a poor job running such a small election (just 140 votes maximum, of which 138 votes were submitted) and bring such shame to the office. It is almost as of they are trying to destroy the reputation of the Chief Rabbinate and get the last few people who still respect the office and listen to its decision to abandon it like everyone else. 

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