Chief rabbi

Inheriting moral instincts: How choices become a legacy – opinion

Our descendants absorb what we choose to do in times of crisis: they act based on what they watched us forgive, defend, and risk for others.

SEPTEMBER 30, 2026|ByKENNETH BRANDER

A rabbi blows a shoat ahead of Yom Kippur at the Western Wall in Jerusalem in 2026.

REUVEN WABASHAT, Israel’s chief rabbi of the Ethiopian community, is seen in Jerusalem in 2018.

Could an Ethiopian Israeli become prime minister, president, or chief rabbi? - opinion

An Ethiopian Israeli should also be capable of leading a major Zionist or Jewish institution, and should appear on CNN, Fox News, the BBC, or Sky News.

AUGUST 16, 2026|BySHMUEL LEGESSE

Rabbi Menachem Mendel Axelrod, Chief Rabbi of the Republic of Moldova.

Moldova hires first chief rabbi in 12 years, new chapter for revived Jewish community - interview

Chabad played an instrumental in Moldova since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022, providing support for refugees, coordinating travel and in general providing a base for those in need.

AUGUST 4, 2026|ByMATHILDA HELLER

KASHRUT CERTIFICATION at a Jerusalem eatery – will the rabbinate’s monopoly be broken?

Knesset repeals 2021 kashrut reform, restores Rabbinate control over certification

Under the law, official kashrut certificates may be issued by the Chief Rabbinate Council, authorized local rabbis, and, within the IDF, the Military Rabbinate.

JULY 15, 2026|BySARAH BEN-NUN

Israel's Chief Rabbinate has become a hereditary monarchy - opinion

The position of chief rabbi, which has a ten-year tenure, has become a political tool and the province of members of a few elite families who monopolize it.

AUGUST 9, 2023ByRICHARD SHAVEI-TZION

ASHKENAZI CHIEF Rabbi David Lau (left) and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef: The silence of our two chief rabbis is thunderously indicative of the abject state of these once meaningful and relevant positions, the writer argues.

Shas are seeking to deepen their grip over state religious institutions - opinion

The state-religious infrastructure has been used systematically to build a political power base.

AUGUST 6, 2023ByDANIEL GOLDMAN

MK ARYE DERI leads a parliamentary faction meeting of his Shas party, in the Knesset, last month.

Israel's chief rabbi elections tainted by personal interests - opinion

Instead of passing laws that help the people and the nation, its members are focused on helping themselves, or in the case of the chief rabbinate, one of their brothers.

AUGUST 3, 2023ByYAAKOV KATZ

MK ARYE DERI is in a bind, says the writer. On the one hand he has the opportunity to appoint his brother as chief rabbi, but that would put him at odds with the Yosef family, his political patrons.

Sephardi Chief Rabbi says Ben-Gvir's Temple Mount visits 'cause sin'

The Sephardi chief rabbi has attacked Ben-Gvir for the minister's activism for Temple Mount visits in the past.

JULY 16, 2023ByTZVI JOFFRE

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visits the Temple Mount, May 21, 2023

'Wombs for rent': Opposition MK decries the lack of female reps on religious councils

Biton made the comments during a verbal scuffle between Labor Party MK Gilad Kariv and ultra-Orthodox coalition members.

JUNE 28, 2023ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

MK Dvora Biton taken out by Knesset guards during a a Constitution, Law and Justice Committee meeting on the planned judicial reform, at the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament in Jerusalem on June 25, 2023

Chief Rabbinate election delay bill passes first reading

According to Israeli law, the chief rabbis serve for 10 years, and religious councils for five years.

JUNE 19, 2023ByELIAV BREUER

ASHKENAZI CHIEF Rabbi David Lau and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef at an event in Jerusalem earlier this year. Who is lining up to replace them?

Israel's extreme religious Zionists don't recognize the value of women - opinion

This week, it became blatantly clear that the more extreme elements of religious Zionism have yet to recognize the valuable and even crucial contribution women can make.

JUNE 9, 2023BySETH FARBER