The five-man committee preparing elections for a new chief rabbinate said today that the balloting will take place definitely before Aug, 31. The elections were originally to have been held Aug. II but the committee announced several weeks ago that it would not be ready in time. It plans to ask the Knesset to extend the terms of the Incumbent chief rabbis for an additional three weeks.
The major contestants are the 86-year-old incumbent, Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman and his challenger, Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren of Tel Aviv. The Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Yitzhak Nissim remains unopposed.
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