Rabbi Israel Lau was installed Wednesday as Tel Aviv’s Ashkenazic chief rabbi, in a three-hour ceremony that marked a victory for liberal elements in the religious establishment at a time of growing concern over religious coercion.
Lau, a Holocaust survivor, had been chief rabbi of Netanya. His accession was delayed for two years because of objections by the Chief Rabbinate over the presence of a woman on the Tel Aviv Religious Council that selected him.
The Chief Rabbinate backed down only after the Supreme Court ruled that Lau’s appointment was legitimate.
The installation at the Mann Auditorium here was attended by Premier Yitzhak Shamir, Religious Affairs Minister Zevulun Hammer, and Avraham Shapiro and Mordechai Eliahu, the Ashkenazic and Sephardic chief rabbis of Israel respectively.
Rabbi Lau, though Orthodox, is known to have a liberal personal outlook. He said he would work to bridge the religious-secular gap. He stressed that the key was education.
His installation was celebrated on the 50th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the first organized pogrom in Nazi Germany and the forerunner of the Holocaust.
Lau, who survived a concentration camp, recalled that as a small child, he was carried to safety on the back of his slightly older brother. That brother, Naftali Lavie, was in recent years the consul general of Israel in New York.
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
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.
