Elections for Israel's chief rabbinate have officially kicked off with the approval of the chief rabbi voting oversight committee in Sunday morning's cabinet meeting. The composition of the election oversight committee has been changed to include two women.
The cabinet's approval of the election committee signals the official launch of the elections for chief rabbinate, thus ending any more legislative efforts on this matter.
The approval to the changes in the composition of the committee is a historic development, according to a spokespersion for Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan, deputy minister for religious services. The two women chosen are retired judge Sarah Frish and Attorney Tzipi Finkelstein. "For years I have worked to advance women," Ben-Dahan told the women, "and I continue to do so."
The election oversight committee is not the same as the body of 150 people that will elect the chief rabbi. That larger committee still suffers from an extreme dearth of women. Nevertheless, a spokeswoman for Ben-Dahan called the appointment of two women to the oversight committee "of historic importance" because "it changes the whole approach, it's the idea that women can be involved in the process."
In the meantime, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef stepped up his attacks on prospective chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Stav on Sunday, saying he "has no fear of God."
"His friends told me he is dangerous for the Torah, dangerous for Judaism and dangerous for the rabbinate," Yosef said, according to Army Radio.
Stav, a religious Zionist rabbi who wants to reform the rabbinate, is Habayit Hayehudi's preferred candidate for Ashkenazi chief rabbi. Elections are scheduled for August.
Shas is opposed to Habayit Hayehudi's efforts to change the mechanism for the election of chief rabbis so that women comprise a sizeable proportion of the 150 electors. This would alter the make-up of the electing body in a way that might elect Stav and put an end to the haredi domination of the Chief Rabbinate.
According to Army Radio, Yosef is bent on derailing the proposed changes to the law governing the election of chief rabbis, and is willing to sacrifice Shas-sponsored legislation aimed at extending Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar's tenure. Yosef, along with Shas Chairman MK Aryeh Deri, fears that the so-called Amar bill would be approved in exchange for changing the makeup of the election committee.
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