Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the son of Sefardi haredi leader Rabbi Ovadia
Yosef, himself a former Chief Rabbi of Israel, and Rabbi David Lau, son of former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau,
have were elected late today as Israel's next chief rabbis. The pair
will each serve a ten-year term unless removed. Both men and their
fathers are haredim.
Rabbis Yitzhak Yosef, top, and David Lau, bottom
Haredim Win Chief Rabbinate
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the son of Sefardi haredi leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, himself a former Chief Rabbi of Israel, and Rabbi David Lau, son of former Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, have were elected late today as Israel's next chief rabbis. The pair will each serve a ten-year term unless removed. Both men and their fathers are haredim.
Zionist Orthodox Rabbis David Stav and Shmuel Eliyahu took second place in the voting.
Yitzhak Yosef received his ordination without taking the usually required written exams, which are considered to be the toughest smicha (ordination) tests in the world.
Instead, Yosef was given a brief oral examination and then awarded smicha.
His father was then the sitting Sefardi Chief Rabbi of Israel. Israel’s chief rabbis control the rabbinic ordination process.
The cavalier method of allowing friends and relatives to gain ordination through substandard oral exams was stopped last year after it was exposed in the Israeli media.