Four years after the passing of the late Rabbi Yosef Ezran, the Chief Rabbi of Rishon LeZion, a decision was made at a city council meeting to begin an election process for the position of Sephardic Chief Rabbi. Many are running for the position, but the prominent names with the highest chance of winning at the moment are Rabbi Shlomo Levy, the head of the Hesder yeshiva, who is supported by the Jewish Home, and Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, the deputy mayor - who has the support of the Shas movement and most members of the city council.
Rabbi Shlomo Levy, who serves as a neighborhood rabbi in Rishon LeZion and heads the Hesder yeshiva in Ramat Eliyahu, is currently working to garner support among city council members. His associates say his chances of winning are high, as he has the support of Religious Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett, who has promised to throw all his weight behind winning at least in Rishon LeZion and leading to the election of a religious Zionist candidate for the position of chief rabbi.
On the other hand, those close to Rabbi Aryeh Cohen say that his victory is almost guaranteed, since the members of the city council - who make up half of the electorate - have approached him with a request to run and have promised to assist him as much as possible. The mayor will also not support the opposing candidate, his associates say, since Rabbi Aryeh Cohen led the turnaround that led to his election, and there is no doubt that out of gratitude he will support him in the election process for the rabbinate.
Rabbi Aryeh Cohen, who began his public activity about thirty years ago by establishing the Kirov movement in Rishon LeZion, enrolled hundreds of families in seminars and became a senior lecturer on values, continued all the while, in parallel with his membership in the city council, to give Torah lessons, establish a youth movement for Kirov far away, and study daily in the kollel. He sees the position of Chief Rabbi as a tremendous growth engine for the Kirov world in Rishon LeZion. "I have dedicated my entire life to spreading Torah and vindicating the many, and I am taking this position on behalf of my esteemed colleagues, in order to continue making Judaism accessible to all parts of the people through the path of love and bringing hearts closer together," he says.
Senior Shas officials say that the decision to support Rabbi Aryeh Cohen for the position came after analyzing the data received - which showed that he is the only one who can win this campaign, since he enjoys massive support from members of the city council, along with synagogue tax collectors. "The public loves him, he is seen as a bridging figure who represents the Torah community in the city with great respect, and we have no doubt that he will fulfill his role faithfully," Shas says.
So what awaits us in the future - will Naftali Bennett again lose the battle for the city's rabbinate? Will Rabbi Shlomo Levy succeed in garnering support from the members of the electorate? Or will we once again see figures from the political world transition to the rabbinical world, as we saw with Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz, who also served as a Shas MK, Rabbi Shear Yeshov HaCohen, who served as deputy mayor of Jerusalem and continued to serve as rabbi of Haifa, as well as the previous rabbi of Rishon LeZion, Rabbi Ezran, who served as a MK and deputy minister, and many other good people who came from the political world and excelled in their rabbinical roles.
Time will tell.
Join the Haredim 10 Facebook page >>
Join the X page of Haredim 10 >>
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
