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Dec 1, 2013

The fiefdom that is the Rabbanut

I just read an article about the upcoming elections, possibly (I say "possibly" because for 10 years it has been delayed and postponed time after time), for a new Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem. They might elect one, they might elect two and they might push it off again and not elect any.

For 10 years or so Jerusalem has not had a Chief Rabbi. And somehow they have continued to function. Neighborhoods have rabbis, people have private rabbis, synagogues have rabbis.. the kashrut authority continues to function, the authority for mikvaot and eruvin and other services continues to function... It does make me wonder if we really need a chief rabbi at all for the country or if it is a position we can do away with altogether (a position I hesitantly support at this time mostly because of how politicized rather than rabbinic the position has become)..

But that is not my point here.

In the article it went on to discuss the front-runners for the position. Sure, there were a couple alternative candidates mentioned as possibilities, but the front-runners for the race had last names like "Lau" and "Yosef".

Are there no other worthy rabbis in the country? Are only the Lau and Yosef families worthy of the major rabbinate positions?  I am not saying anything personally against these two specific people - they might both be great rabbis, but are these two families really the only ones in the country producing leading rabbis? How is it possible that every major rabbinate position to be filled the names that come up automatically as leaders are Laus and Yosefs? Should the Rabbanut of a country really become the personal fiefdom of a family or two?





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9 comments:

  1. So what you are suggesting is a permanent date for winter vacation, assuming it would be on the secular calendar, so weather wise and light and dark wise, it would at the same time each year, say the last 2 weeks of December. The problem with that is that it would make us seem that we are in fact having school holidays to co-incide with Xmas, which is what is done throguhout the Christian world.
    No, I don't think so. Let's keep it on Chanukah,

    ReplyDelete
  2. it could be a permanent date using the Hebrew calendar - say 10 Teves for 3 days (or for however long). I picked 10 Teves randomly. pick 15 Teves or 1 SHvat or whatever.

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is the deal - we simply do not prepare 'gedolim'. We second guess everyone now, to the point that we don't believe anyone is righteous enough to lead us. Clearly, some families have prepared their sons (and daughters) for royalty and leadership positions. Yosef, Lau, Eliyahu, etc... Reading about the heads of the family, in the many books on their lives, you see how these tzaddikim grew up, and how their children saw this from the inside - stuff you cannot possibly learn in school, on the street, or wasting time surfing the internet like most of us do.

    Claiming there is a fiefdom is truly chilul Hashem of ignorance. If you have better candidates, let's hear about them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. better candidate makes no difference. these guys dont want to run a race they might lose. the race is so politicized, only the ones with real strong political connections are willing to put their name forward. How many times has Rabbi grossman wavered, unwilling to take the chance of a loss? I remember at least 3 chief rabbinate races, and now his name is in the hat as a maybe for jerusalem..Is he not worthy? but he knows his chances are barely reasonable. Rabbi Eliyahu as well. I dont know the others, but in the chief rabbinate race we had a few names and they were destroyed by the Yosef family and their followers (the ashkenazi side was less obvious about it). its not about who is more of a gadol or more worthy. tis about who is more connected.

      Delete
    2. in the race for the CR, 3 (at least) of the candidates were appointed city rabbis while their fathers were chief rabbi. the analogy given was the ramat kal appointing his (young) son to be a machat. there would be an uproar.

      rabbis get away with a lot of things that the rest of the government or state supported institutions can't do.

      Delete
  4. Let's not fool ourselves.
    A) The essence of getting elected or promoted to any position is popularity, politics, being well known, and of course being worthy (knowledge and talent) to be a chief rabbi of city.
    B) Elections of city rabbis are different than elections of city rabbis and involve a variety of people on the local level from politicians to the shul committees.
    C) Father rabbis can simply not appoint their sons to any position, but they certainly might be able to gauge which city might be more welcome to accepting their son's and then have them run there for election.
    D) Soldiers must work their way up the ladder of rank in order to get to various positions. Some warriors in the past were able to skip positions and jump higher, perhaps not with a father in a higher rank, but certainly with a friendly general with family/friend relations. Becoming chief of staff definitely has to do with who you know and who upstairs is pulling strings for you.
    E) Over the course of Jewish history, many a rabbi have shown at an early stage they are more worthy than older rabbis so comparing chief rabbi to chief of staff is not relevant.
    F) Rav David Lau had actually been a candidate for Chief Rabbi of Ariel. That city missed out big time.
    G) Politics means working hard all the time and not just at the last minute. Rav Shmuel Eliyahu faced an uncooperative and unprepared Bayit Yehudi as well as one of the great tzaddiks of our time (Rav Yosef's zk"l brachot for supporters). I'm sure if Rav Mordechai had been alive, his son's luck might have been different.
    H) I hear you about not willing to run if there is a chance in losing. In order to avoid this, we must demand that the age limit is removed, and start preparing better candidates who we can unite behind. and yes, we must be ready to make 'deals'.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A) your F contradicts your A. who in ariel knows rav lau?
      B) if a deri can promise some a city mayor a few good things if he supports deri's boy, that is all that is needed. atias and deri (the brothers, not the MKs) got their jobs because of their last names, not their credentials.
      D) work their way up the ladder? rav eliyahu was learning in yeshiva until age 29, when he got the job as safed CR. what ladder was he on? (and yes, his father was the national CR at the time).
      G) rav lau was a last minute candidate as was rav yosef. avraham yosef was the preferred candidate until the police "tafar lo tiq".
      H) i agree 100% that we need better deal making abilities (and less facebook campaigns).

      Delete
    2. Rav David Lau was widely known before he became rav of Modiin and Shoham.

      Rav Yehuda Deri of Beer Sheva has proven beyond a doubt that he deserves the position. I do not know about Rav Attias of Petach Tikva. You are making severe accusations that you are not backing up with anything. Rav Shmuel Eliyahu, definitely worthy of the position.

      Delete
    3. it is great that RYD has proven that he deserves the position. it is also great that the RSE is worthy.

      however i doubt that they have proven that the way they got the job was the right way to select rabbanim. there may have been better people to do the job, people whose sole fault was not being the son of the current chief rabbi or brother of a high ranking politician.

      Delete

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