Rabbi Kalman Ber, the Chief Rabbi of Netanya, was elected on Thursday to serve as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. The newly elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi is an alumnus of Kerem Beyavne hesder yeshiva, taught there for many years after his hesder army service in the Nachal Brigade and was elected Netanya Chief Rabbi in 2014. He is related to the Rosh Yeshiva of Merkaz Harav, Rabbi Yaakov Shapira.
The elections were held between 12:00 and 4:00 p.m. at the Chief Rabbinate headquarters in Jerusalem. 136 out of the 140 members of the electoral body participated in the voting.
The four members of the body who did not cast their votes were Emek Hefer Regional Council head Galit Shaul, the Rabbi of Rechasim Yaakov Sonnenfeld, MK Yitzhak Kroizer (Otzma Yehudit), and Bat Yam Mayor Tzvika Brot.
Rabbi Ber received 77 votes while his opponent, Petah Tikva Chief Rabbi Micha Halevi received only 58 votes.
The election on Thursday was a runoff after the two candidates tied during the first round last month, both receiving 40 votes.
During the initial round of voting, Rabbi David Yosef, the son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef z”l, and the brother of the former Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, was elected as Sephardic Chief Rabbi, having received 72 votes.
No comments:
Post a Comment