Rabbi Eliahu Pardess, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan, was reported today to be the most likely candidate for the office of the Minister for Religious Affairs.
Rabbi Pardess’ nomination has been suggested to Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion who was reported to be giving the suggestion his serious consideration. The office was vacated earlier this month by the death of Rabbi Yaacov Toledano.
It had been reported previously that Rabbi Binyamin Mintz, currently Minister of Posts, who is bead of the Poalei Agudas Israel, was being considered for the vacant Ministry. Menahem Porush, a member of Parliament representing Agudas Israel, from which the Poalei Agudas Israel recently split, called on the Prime Minister yesterday to express opposition. Porush told the Prime Minister that naming of Rabbi Mintz to the Ministry would “widen the rift” in Israel Orthodoxy.
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