The National Religious Party and the right-wing Herut today criticized Mapai and General Zionist support for proposals that a single Chief Rabbi be established in place of existing separate Chief Rabbis for the Ashkenazi and Sephardi communities of Israel.
Discussion of the proposal developed soon after the passing last Saturday of Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog, who had been Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi. Proponents of the idea contended that the institution of a dual Chief Rabbinate in effect gave legal recognition to the division within the Israel community.
The Mapai and General Zionist approach was a plan under which Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi, would become the only Chief Rabbi. The Religious and the Herut Parties challenged the sincerity of the suggestion and termed it “wooing the Sephardi vote,” a reference to the November national elections. The independent daily, Haaretz, came out in support of the existing system of two Chief Rabbis on grounds that abolition of the system would not “bridge the gulf” between the two communities and would also create new problems.
An informal campaign for Rabbi S. Y. Zevvin, editor of the Talmudic Encyclopedia, as successor to the late Chief Rabbi led Rabbi Zevvin today to repudiate the unauthorized effort on his behalf. The move enhanced the prospects of Chief Chaplain Shlomo Goren and Tel Aviv’s Chief Rabbi, Isar Yehudi Unterman.
Though Israel is now officially in mourning for Rabbi Herzog, partisans of Rabbis Goren and Unterman are discussing their qualifications for the post. Rabbi Goren’s “liberalism” on interpretation of Jewish Religious Law was considered offset by his youth–he is 44–and Rabbi Unterman’s scholarship by his age; he is 74.
Another facet of the discussion on Chief Rabbi Herzog’s successor is consideration of establishing a minimum and maximum age for Chief Rabbis–50 years and 70 years. Friends of the two rabbis have been pointing out that neither has made any move to seek the post. Chaplain Goren is abroad on a United Jewish Appeal mission and Rabbi Unterman is maintaining a scrupulous policy of inaction.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
