Most secular Israelis readily support the wise men's adage, "and thou shalt hate the rabbinate." Wednesday's election of Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau as chief Sephardi rabbi and chief Ashkenazi rabbi, respectively, brings nothing new. What has been will continue to be, and whatever was does not address the need to develop the essential relationship between secular Israelis and religious, and between those two groups and Jews in religious limbo in Israeli society.
Wednesday's election transpired on two levels, one of them political. Economy and Trade Minister Naftali Bennett and Finance Minister Yair Lapid -- and other decent, albeit unrelated people -- aligned themselves with Rabbi David Stav. Shas Chairman Arye Deri, former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who surreptitiously joined the alliance, backed Lau, seeking to preserve his birthright.
The political ramifications are clear. Deri outdid Bennett, Netanyahu maintained his ties with Shas (the ultra-Orthodox party doesn't sit in the coalition) and the chance to unify both chief rabbinate roles was put off another decade. But the political consequences are negligible in the eyes of the secular and conservative (Jewish) public, whose revulsion for the Rabbinate shows in the ever-smaller numbers of weddings conducted according to Jewish law. This trend will only grow under non-Zionist, haredi patronage of the rabbinical institution.
Yosef and Lau made a deal. They received the same number of votes, assuring their respective elections. Lau's teachings are conveyed through his general affability. Yosef's style is influenced by his father's house.
On Wednesday evening, Channel 2 news resumed their broadcast with Yosef's statement on Knesset legislation. It's chilling and disturbing, even contemptible. What he said was no less outrageous than Sephardi candidate Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu's on-the-record racist comments.
Lau received votes from his associates in the camp of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, and from Ashkenazi haredim. He will not be able to -- and perhaps would not want to -- act in opposition to these groups. Yitzhak Yosef's situation requires no explanation.
At best, Israel got a non-Zionist Chief Rabbinate for the next decade, one that relies on conservative elements that don't see the real need to make the rabbinical institution compatible with the modernity of 2013.
The secular public is voting with its feet, withdrawing and developing an alternative system for marriage and divorce. The chance of integrating newcomers who have requested to be recognized as converts is fading fast. In the end, they'll give up their dream of ever sharing a feeling of belonging, and Israeli society will continue to fragmentize.
Proper etiquette calls for wishing the newly elected rabbis success in the future, but politeness is no substitute for substance.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו