Bridge between secular and faithful
The vast majority of secular Israelis -- even many observant Jews -- have turned their backs on the Chief Rabbinate and are uninterested in its meetings or day-to-day operations. They have written it off as irrelevant.
But this is an illusion. Many secular Israelis -- albeit in decreasing numbers -- prefer to marry according to Jewish tradition. Even if not, they are forced to divorce in the offices of the Rabbinate.
The battles over kashrut supervision and the ugly commerce surrounding it have an impact even on those who do not keep kosher -- if only to raise the price of food. Above all, the Rabbinate is important for secular people because of its centrality to the lives of observant Israelis.
Even enlightened religious people have been disappointed by the conduct of the Rabbinate for years. Just look at all the suspicions against outgoing Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger, charged for receiving perks from a five-star Jerusalem hotel, investigated for fraud and money laundering, and talked about behind closed doors and in testimony by witnesses who did not want to press charges.
What's worst of all is that there has been no chief rabbi who could represent all of Israel for decades. There was no one like former Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who provided leadership during the turbulent 1920s and 1930s, before of the state's establishment. No, he died 78 years ago. He had enemies and rivals, and the haredim undermined him and refused to accept his authority. But his understanding of the pioneering spirit of secular Zionism, and his position against the evil of the internecine fights over the murder of Haim Arlozorov -- was unmatched by any of his successors.
Yet even among his successors were some great rabbis. Chief Sephardi Rabbis Ben-Zion Uziel and Yitzhak Nissim, and Chief Ashkenazi Rabbis Yitzhak Herzog and Shlomo Goren are abundant testimony to this.
Today, a window will open for several hours during which the 150 members of the electing assembly will chose both Ashkenazi and Sephardi chief rabbis to serve for the next decade.
In the Sephardi camp, the choice is clear: No to the son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, whose family exercises too much control over the kashrut business. No to Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, whose explanations and excuses have not cleared his name of suspicions of racism. The High Court of Justice, which has deteriorated of late, found a way to avoid ruling on his candidacy, but the problem remains.
The choice is even clearer among Ashkenazim. Jewish society in the land of Israel is groaning under the weight of guidelines and regulations that the public cannot uphold. The attitude towards actual and potential converts is unacceptable, shameful and disconnected from the best tradition of Judaism. The time has come to restore the chief rabbinate to what it was meant to be: a religious-Zionist bridge over a gaping chasm between the secular community and the faithful.
Anyone who knows history or reads it before casting a ballot should vote to revive the exemplary life's work of Rabbi Kook, who left his office and sought out secular kibbutznikim, and spoke of their work in terms of the Messiah son of Joseph. Will these dry bones come back to life? Is it in the power of Rabbi David Stav to return the crown of the rabbinate to its former glory? He is the only chance that the rabbinate can open up in the direction of national religious Zionism.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו