President Isaac Herzog, the grandson of the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel, on Monday, hosted the inauguration of newly elected Ashkenazi and Sephardi Chief Rabbis, Kalman Ber, the former Chief Rabbi of Netanya, and David Yosef, who runs an educational facility for rabbis from Israel and abroad.
Yosef is the younger brother of outgoing Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the son of the Shas political party’s spiritual mentor, and himself a former Chief Rabbi, the late Ovadia Yosef.
In their addresses to a packed hall of rabbis, government ministers, MKs, IDF officers, and the families of the new Chief Rabbis, Herzog, Yosef, and Ber spoke of the importance of unity, rebuilding confidence in the rabbinate, unconditional love, the elimination of baseless hatred, as well as respecting other faiths and their spiritual and communal leaders.
Herzog said that immediately after the United Nations vote on the Partition Plan in 1947, his grandfather convened a meeting of the Chief Rabbi’s Council, emphasizing the need for unity.
Although his grandfather was the first chief rabbi, he was preceded by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who advocated interfaith respect and cooperation and believed that every religion has a divine spark of morality. Rabbi Herzog inherited Rabbi Kook’s mantle long before the establishment of the state and promoted and followed his teachings.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef followed the teachings of both.
Referencing recent religious conflicts regarding the Temple Mount and al-Aqsa Mosque, Herzog quoted his grandfather, who insisted that members of other faiths be respected and that there should be full freedom of religious practices and traditions.
Herzog never forgets the hostages, regardless of his audience and although he has said it many times before, in addressing scores of rabbis, he found it imperative to remind them that in Jewish tradition, whoever saves a single life, saves an entire world.
Yosef told the president, “We have something in common. You are the grandson of a great Chief Rabbi and I am the son of a great Chief Rabbi, and we must continue to walk in their ways.”
Yosef said that his father had often spoken of the greatness of Rabbi Herzog and of his genius as a Torah scholar.
Having read the biography of Rabbi Herzog, Yosef was extremely impressed and recommended that everyone read it.
“He was a giant,” he said, “and yet it was easy for him to reach the level of ordinary people. He fought with all his might for the establishment of the Jewish State, and famously tore up the White Paper (restricting Jewish immigration to Palestine).”
Yosef also mentioned that Rabbi Herzog had ensured that Jewish Law would be part of Israel’s legal system.
But what impressed him no less was that Rabbi Herzog had traveled throughout war-torn Europe after the Holocaust to rescue Jewish child survivors and bring them to Israel.
Importance of uniting Jews
Quoting both his father and Rabbi Herzog, Yosef emphasized the importance of uniting secular and religious, Jews and non-Jews, and all Israeli citizens.
Referring to how he and Rabbi Ber will set an example in mending fractures in the community, Yosef said that immediately after he was elected, Ber told him that they must go out together, talk to people, and listen to them.
Ber, who, like his Sephardi colleague, is a riveting orator, described himself as a second-generation Holocaust survivor, which gave him an added sense of mission. His late father had lost his whole family and had come to Israel as an orphan.
Although he was certainly familiar with the teachings of Rabbis Kook, Herzog, and Ovadia Yosef, the chief rabbi to whom he was most attached was Rabbi Avraham Shapira, who was recognized as a prodigy, even as a child.
Ber said that when he thinks of all the chief rabbis who preceded him, he feels humbled that he could be included amongst men of such intellectual and religious stature.
In defining the role of a rabbi, Ber said, “He is a servant to his people.” Such were Rabbis Kook and Herzog, he said.
THE GREATEST example of a rabbi’s dedication is to unite Israel and influence people to always see the good in the other. When that happens among political parties, he explained, there will be peace within the nation.
But to achieve peace, he continued, all rabbis must unite and deal with issues together: “The public wants to see rabbis coming to army bases, and the periphery, and everywhere else.”
Paraphrasing the Passover message that each Jew must see himself as a slave who left Egypt, Ber said: “When the hostages are in the tunnels, I too have to feel as if I am there with them. It is our obligation to do all that we can for them and their families.”
When he concluded, Yosef rose from his chair, embraced him, and kissed him.
Although he is now characterized as an ultra-Orthodox Rabbi, Ber is an alumnus of the National Religious camp. He is a graduate of Yeshivat Kerem B’Yavneh which was National Religious when he was a student but is now known as a National ultra-Orthodox yeshiva.
Even though his sons did not serve in the IDF, Ber served in a Nahal unit, and his campaign activists emphasized that on Independence Day, he recites the Hallel prayer of praise and even takes the role of cantor in the synagogue. The bulk of the ultra-Orthodox camp does not celebrate Independence Day.
The election and the inauguration were delayed by more than a year, partially due to disputes as to whether women should be included among the 140 people who would vote the new chief rabbis into office. Half the number of voters are rabbis, and the other half are politicians and public servants.
Although women do serve as lawyers (pleaders) in the Rabbinical Courts, there are still many glass ceilings to be broken before women gain anything approaching equality in Orthodox rabbinical circles.
The elections were held on September 29, at which time Yosef was elected, but there was a run-off between Ber and Rabbi Micha Halevi, the Chief Rabbi of Petah Tikva. Although there had been separate envelopes for Ashkenazi and Sephardi chief rabbi, someone had inadvertently placed votes for both in the same envelope.
The upshot was that Ber and Halevi had 40 votes each, and the only way to settle the issue was to have a run-off, which took place on October 31. It was generally thought that Halevi, who reportedly had the support of both Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Shas leader Arye Deri, would emerge the victor.
But in the final analysis, it was Ber who scored the most votes in a decisive triumph of 77-58. Only 136 of the 140 member electorate for chief rabbi cast their votes. It was a bitter pill for Halevi to swallow, given that the vote that was mistakenly placed together with David Yosef’s would have given him 41 votes in the first instance, and he would therefore have been elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, without having to submit to a second round.
In the first round, there were five rabbis contesting for the role of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi. One of them was Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau, a community rabbi in Netanya and the older brother of outgoing Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau.
Their father, Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, a former Chief Rabbi and very influential figure, campaigned on behalf of his eldest son, but without success.
For all the talk of unity at the inauguration ceremony, which concluded with the singing of Hatikvah, hardly any of the rabbis in attendance joined the cantor from the IDF in singing the national anthem. The notable exception was Rabbi David Yosef.