A proposal to name Rabbi M. Toledano, Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, to the vacant post of Minister of Religious Affairs, is being considered by some members of the Cabinet as one way to fill that Cabinet post, which has been vacant for months since the National Religious Party resigned from the coalition government.
The post of Minister of Religious Affairs has been filled, ex-officio, by Prime Minister David Ben Gurion since the religious members surrendered their cabinet portfolios in protest against the government’s policy of permitting Jews to identify themselves as such without reference to the rabbinate. Mr. Ben Gurion has been negotiating with the religious members for resumption of their cabinet posts, but the negotiations seem to have broken down.
It is now proposed to call in Rabbi Toledano, thus breaking a 10-year-old percent which calls for that post to be filled by a member of the Religious Party. If Rabbi Toledano should receive the appointment, he would be the second prominent Sephardic in the Cabinet–the other being Minister of Police Behor Shitreet.
Another Cabinet change being discussed involves the possibility of redistributing other portfolios vacated by the religious members. One of these is the Ministry of Posts and Telegraph, the other is the Ministry of Social Welfare. One suggestion is that one of these posts–either Posts and Telegraph or Social Welfare–be given to Mr. Shitreet. If that is done, the Ministry of Police would be abolished, and the police responsibility would be transferred to the Ministry of the Interior.
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