Chief Rabbinate of Israel
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The Chief Rabbinate of Israel (הרבנות הראשית לישראל) is the supreme Jewish religious governing body in the state of Israel. There are always two active Chief Rabbis in Israel, an Ashkenazi rabbi and a Sephardi rabbi known as the Rishon L'Tzion.
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[edit] History
The positions of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel have existed for hundreds of years. The title of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi is Rishon l'Zion.
[edit] The Chief Rabbinate
- Levi ibn Habib (b. Spain) - ruled from Jerusalem but in 1538, Rabbi Jacob Berab who came from Spain via Egypt, sought to revive the Sanhedrin, in Safed, thus making that city, the competing capital of Israel. He was opposed and exiled by ibn Habib and the rabbis of Jerusalem but Safed remained the competing capital for a number of years thereafter. Berab was succeeded in Safed by Joseph Caro (b. Spain) who was ordained by him.
- David ibn Abi Zimra of the Egyptian rabbinate - ruled simultaneously in Jerusalem succeeding ibn Habib. In 1575, Moshe Trani (b. Greece) succeeded Caro in Safed.
- Moshe Galante I of Rome - ruled from Jerusalem
- Haim Vital - succeeded Trani in Safed but moved his rabbinate to Jerusalem which, once again, became the sole capital of Israel. In 1586, the Nahmanides Synagogue was confiscated by the Arabs and the ben Zakkai Synagogue was built in its stead.
- Bezalel Ashkenazi - first chief rabbi to preside in the ben Zakkai Synagogue [1].
Gedaliah Cordovero [2]
- Isaac Gaon?
- Israel Benjamin [3]
- Jacob Zemah (b. Portugal) [4]
- Samuel Garmison (b. Greece) [5]
[edit] Rishon L'Tzion 1665-1842
- Moshe Galante II
- Moshe ibn Habib who came from Greece, a descendant of Levi ibn Habib
- Moshe Hayun
- Avraham Yitzhaki (b. Greece)
- Benjamin Maali
- Eleazar Nahum (b. Turkey)
- Nissim Mizrahi
- Isaac Rapaport
- Israel Algazy served until 1756
- Raphael Meyuchas served 1756-1791
- Haim ben Asher
- Yom Tov Algazy - during whose reign, the French armies of Napoleon invaded Palestine. served until 1802
- Moshe Meyuchas served 1802 - 1805
- Jacob Aish of the Maghreb
- Jacob Coral
- Joseph Hazzan (b. Turkey)
- Yom Tov Danon
- Solomon Suzin - in 1831, Palestine was briefly conquered by Egypt under Muhammad Ali.
- Jonah Navon - Palestine returned to the Ottoman Empire.
- Judah Navon
[edit] The Haham Bashi 1842-1918
- Avraham Haim Gaggin (b. Turkey)
- Isaac Covo
- Haim Abulafia
- Haim Hazzan (b. Turkey)
- Avraham Ashkenazi (b. Greece)
- Raphael Panigel (b. Bulgaria)
- Yaacov Eliashar
- Yaacov Meir
- Eliahu Panigel
- Nahman Batito
- Nissim Danon - In 1917, Palestine was conquered by the British. Danon was succeeded as chief rabbi after WWI by Haim Moshe Eliashar who assumed the title of Acting Chief Rabbi.
[edit] Role
The Rabbinate is the halakhic authority for the state, and controls many aspects of life in the Jewish state. Issues under the jurisdiction of the Chief Rabbinate include Jewish marriages, Jewish divorce, Jewish burials, Kashrut and kosher certification, olim, supervision of Jewish holy sites, working with various mikvaot and yeshivot, and overseeing Israeli Rabbinical courts.
[edit] Semicha
The Chief Rabbinate confers Semicha (Rabbinic ordination); "Semicha from the Rabbanut" is considered amongst the most prestigious of contemporary ordinations. It is granted once the candidate has passed a series of six written tests on specified subjects (Shabbat; Eruv; Family purity; Mikvaot; Kashrut; Aveilut). Additional Semichot - with similar testing requirements - are granted for "Rabbi of the City" (other relevant areas of Orach Chayim, Yoreh De'ah and Even Ha'ezer) and to Dayanim (laws dealt with in Choshen Mishpat) [1].
[edit] List of Chief Rabbis
Chief Rabbis have existed around the world for centuries. In Israel, there were pre-independence Rabbis and official Israel Chief Rabbis.
[edit] British Mandate of Palestine
[edit] Ashkenazi
- Abraham Isaac Kook (1921-1935)
- Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1936-1949)
[edit] Sephardi
- Jacob Meir (1921-1939)
- Benzion Uziel (1939-1948)
[edit] Modern Israel
[edit] Ashkenazi
- Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1949-1959)
- Isser Yehuda Unterman (1964-1973)
- Shlomo Goren (1973-1983)
- Avraham Shapira (1983-1993)
- Yisrael Meir Lau (1993-2003)
- Yona Metzger (2003–present)
[edit] Sephardi
- Benzion Uziel (1948-1954)
- Yitzhak Nissim (1955-1973)
- Ovadia Yosef (1973-1983)
- Mordechai Eliyahu (1983-1993)
- Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron (1993-2003)
- Shlomo Amar (2003–present)
[edit] Controversy
There have been many problems brought forth by secular Israelis regarding the Chief Rabbinate's strict control over Jewish weddings, divorce proceedings, conversions, and who counts as Jewish for the purposes of immigration. The Rabbinate does not accept non-Orthodox Rabbis performing any of the above listed ceremonies or proceedings. Because of this, many Israelis choose to marry abroad in nearby Cyprus or another location.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
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