The Eilat City Rabbinate Election Committee, headed by Grand Rabbi Rabbi Yaakov Zamir, announced today (Monday) after the vote count, the election of Rabbi Yair Hadaya as the Sephardic rabbi of Eilat.
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Rabbi Hedaya will serve alongside the city's Ashkenazi rabbi, Rabbi Yosef Hecht.
The Ministry of Religious Services claims that the appointment of an additional rabbi "is intended to address the unique religious and kashrut challenges of the southern tourist city, which doubles its population throughout the year.".
This is a significant step, which comes after the retirement of the outgoing city rabbi, the rabbi-elect's father, HaDaya.
Alongside the chairman, Rabbi Zamir, the committee members were: Rabbi Shlomo Ben Ezra, the rabbi of the Mevaseret Zion local council, Matan Be'eri, Sima Namir, Yonit Gispan, and the committee's secretary, Yaakov Cohen.
The chosen rabbi is a second generation member of the Eilat city rabbinate. His father, the Gram Hedaya, held the position since 1956, after the then Chief Rabbi of Israel, the late Rabbi Yitzhak Halevi Isaac Herzog, asked him to serve in the city as a rabbi, teacher and spiritual leader. Now his son continues the dynasty.
Rabbi Yair Hadaya, a resident of Eilat, has until now served as a senior registrar in the city's marriage department. He served his father in the rabbinate and learned from him the methods of ruling in halakhic law and leadership. The rabbi is a graduate of the 'Porat Yosef' and 'Mercaz HaRav' yeshiva, and was ordained to the rabbinate by the Chief Rabbi of Israel and former Rosh Yeshiva of the Mercaz HaRav, the late Rabbi Avraham Shapira.
He holds the qualification of a city rabbi from the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and served in halakhic matters under the great rabbis: the Gra Shapira, zt"l, the Gaon Rabbi Ben Zion Abba Shaul, zt"l, and the Gaon Rabbi Zalman Nehemiah Goldberg, zt"l.
The rabbi also headed the kollel of the rabbinate in Eilat, and serves voluntarily as rabbi of the Ichud Hatzalah organization in the city.
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