The candidates are warming up their engines, the associates are preparing for war, and the critical appointments for the elections are beginning to move: in about six months, in July 2023, the elections for the appointments of two new rabbis are expected to be held.
Once again, after failing to do so a decade ago, the religious sector will seek to appoint a religious Zionist rabbi to the position of Ashkenazi chief rabbi, as agreed upon in the coalition agreements.
At the same time, there is a question as to who will serve as the Sephardi chief rabbi.
Although there are about six months until the elections, significant moves are already being made to promote the desired candidates on the parties.
First - on the Ashkenazi side: the religious-national sector is in trouble due to the passing of Rabbi Haim Druckman, since the plan was that he would vote for the candidate he wanted - something that will not be possible now, of course.
Even before the death of the elder of the religious Zionist rabbis, a secret committee of rabbis gathered in his house to decide between two leading candidates - Rabbi Eliezer Igra, a member of the Great Rabbinical Court, and Rabbi Micha Halevi, the rabbi of the city of Petah Tikva.
After discussions, a decision was made that Rabbi Halevi would be the agreed upon candidate.
Now the intention is that Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, former rabbi of the city of Ramat Gan, who is currently the leading rabbi in the religious community, will be the one to make the decision, and act on it in the religious Zionist party.
Sources close to Rabbi Halevi stated in a conversation with "Israel Today" that he is not pushing for the position, but if there is no suitable person - he will not refuse him.
These two candidates are joined by two others whose chances, at least at the moment, are smaller.
The first - Rabbi David Stav, rabbi of the Shoham settlement and chairman of Rabbi Tzahar, who is considered a red sheet in the eyes of the ultra-Orthodox, and Rabbi Yaakov Shapira, the head of the Merkaz Rabbi Yeshiva. Rabbi Shapira also enjoys sympathy in the ultra-Orthodox public, but in order to appoint him, it is necessary to change the law - because who is 72 years old, and now it is possible to compete only until the age of 70. In the religious sector they tried to make this change already last time, with Rabbi Ariel, but they failed, and now they will have to decide if they want to enter this saga again. The irony is that Rabbi Ariel, who was not appointed to the position of rabbi The chief due to that failure, will be the one to decide whether to try to put him in the position.
Considered a red sheet in the eyes of the ultra-Orthodox, Rabbi David Stav (archive), photo: David Stav
Rabbi Micha Halevi (59): Since 2012 he has served as the Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Petah Tikva.
He is currently considered the leading candidate in the elections for the Chief Rabbinate.
Rabbi Eliezer Igra (68): In 2012 he ran for the position of Petah Tikva mayor, but withdrew his candidacy.
A year later he ran for the position of Chief Rabbi of Israel, but two days before the elections he announced his withdrawal from the race.
Serves as a member of the Great Rabbinical Court.
Rabbi Yaakov Shapira (72): since 2008 he has served as the head of the Merkaz Rabbi yeshiva, the flagship of religious Zionism.
At the moment he cannot be elected to the position of chief rabbi, unless the law is changed.
Rabbi David Stav (62): In recent years, he has been leading significant struggles in the field of religion, such as the opening of the kosher market, which provide him with significant support on the liberal side, but turn him into a red sheet as far as the ultra-Orthodox are concerned.
He serves as chairman of the Tzahar rabbinic organization and rabbi of the Shoham settlement.
The Spanish candidates
On the Spanish side - things are a little simpler.
The leading candidate at the moment is Rabbi Yehuda Deri, the rabbi of Beer Sheva and the brother of Aryeh Deri.
Another name that is on the agenda is that of Rabbi David Yosef, son of Rabbi Ovadia and brother of the current chief rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef.
The reason why Yosef's chances are probably lower, according to sources in the field, is that the Shas are interested in making Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef the head of the party's Torah Sages Council, i.e. the successor of Rabbi Ovadia. The reason for this is that Rabbi David Yosef may overshadow the head of the " The new "Council" - Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef. Along with the moves to appoint each of the rabbis, there is a dramatic procedure that is currently on the agenda - postponing the elections for the year and extending the term of office of the current rabbis. Although this is an unprecedented move, it has several clear advantages: First, in order to appoint the assembly The electorate - a body of 150 mayors, city rabbis, heads of religious councils and public figures - it is necessary to appoint many officials. There are currently no city rabbis in central cities, including Tel Aviv and Haifa, and it is hard to believe that the municipalities will want to engage in this shortly before the municipal elections, which will already be held next October
Although the new Minister of Religions, Michael Malchiali, already this week succeeded in appointing three heads of religious councils in a blitz, but the challenging appointments are still ahead of him.
Rabbi Yehuda Deri (65): Born in Morocco.
His brother is the Minister of Interior and Health Arie Deri.
He currently serves as the rabbi of the city of Beer Sheva and as the head of the elders of the court of Beer Sheva.
Rabbi David Yosef (65): son of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and brother of the officiating Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.
Since 2013 he has served as a member of the Council of Torah Sages of Shas.
The challenging appointments are before him, Malchiali (archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Postponing the elections will also allow the appointment of city rabbis and heads of religious councils, without calling into question their tenure in the electoral body.
Another advantage is that there will be enough time to change the law so that a rabbi can run until the age of 75 - which will allow Rabbi Yaakov Shapira to run for office, while at the same time thwarting the possibility of appointing Sephardi rabbis who may be interested in running, but will pass the age threshold by then.
For this reason, there are voices in Shas who are satisfied with the possibility of postponing the elections for a year.
Canceling the single appointment initiative
Opposing them are elements in religious Zionism who oppose the move, because they know very well that at the moment they have the power to make changes and appoint a religious Zionist rabbi to the position, and it is impossible to know what will happen one day and what the political situation will be in a year.
Therefore, it is not at all clear that this initiative will be successful.
The irony is that this rabbinical political drama comes about a decade after the former Minister of Religion, Naftali Bennett, managed to pass an initiative to appoint only one chief rabbi in the first reading.
Instead, we are once again faced with the question of who will be the next two Chief Rabbis of the State of Israel.
In addition to that, any statement by any candidate or a job that closes behind the scenes could blow up the event: in the 2013 elections everything seemed to be going smoothly, but finally the event ended in a big explosion when Rabbi Stav lost to Rabbi Lau, and Rabbi Ariel, one of the greatest rabbis of religious Zionism, Left aside after he couldn't cope at all.
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