Election of Israel’s two chief rabbis will take place on August 26, it was announced today. The date was fixed at the first meeting of the newly designated eight-man election commission. The members of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate, who also constitute the Supreme Religious Court, will also be elected on that date.
Rabbi Yehuda Leib Maimon, one of the four members of the commission designated by the Government, was elected chairman of the commission. Three of the commission will name the 70 electors who will actually vote. Forty-two of these electors will be from the rabbinate, the remainder will be proposed by the local secular authorities.
Dr. Yitzhak Nissim will be a candidate to succeed himself as Sephardic Chief Rabbi. Chief Chaplain Shlomo Goren of the Israel Army and Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik of Boston, have been prominently mentioned for the post of Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi. The office has been vacant since the death last July of Dr. Yitzhak Halevi Herzog.
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