We are well on our way to have just one Chief Rabbui of Israel.
Yesterday the Committee for Legislation approved the bill proposed by Ministers Tzippi Livni and Naftali Bennet and Deputy Minister Eli Ben Dahan to do just that - have just one Chief Rabbi elected.
The law will also separate the rabbinic courts from the chief rabbinate. If the proposal will pass, the head of the beis din will be selected from acting dayanim, similar to how secular Supreme Court Presidents are chosen.
Basically the position of the second Chief Rabbi will still exist just without the name Chief Rabbi and it will be filled from within the batei din rather than by political election.
This aspect of the law proposal is more than just good. As of right now, neither of the Chief Rabbis need to have ever served as a dayan, yet one of them (generally by rotation) is officially the head of the batei din - sort of like the President of the Supreme Court never having been a judge. And don't think it is only a theoretical problem - Rabbi Metzger, the former Chief Rabbi, had never served as a dayan, yet served as the President of the Batei Din when he was Chief Rabbi.
This law will also apply to city rabbis - cities will no longer elect two chief rabbis, but one.
The law will go to the Knesset for voting, where it is expected to pass easily. This bill has a lot of support.. though not everyone is happy with it. MK Yaakov Margi (Shas) thinks it is a bad bill. He is upset that if an Ashkenazi rabbi will be selected, it will be 10 years the State of Israel will not have a "Rishon lTzion" - which means the ministers, by this law, are breaking a tradition that pre-existed the State of Israel..
I am not sure why this tradition is so important. It is just a title. Just as it can be conferred on the Sephardi Chief Rabbi, in the future it can be conferred on a chief rabbi who is ashkenazi, if that is who will be selected. At a time where through most of Israeli society the division between sephardim and ashkenazim has become very minimal, there really is no longer a need for such division at the top. And, as I have said before, whoever is elected Chief Rabbi will surely be knowledgeable enough to be able to advise on both Ashkenazic and Sephardic customs and laws. One chief rabbi does not mean one custom, one law.
A question I have though is why stop at the Rabbanut? Why do we need 120 members of Knesset - maybe 60 should be enough (or pick a different number)? The number of government ministers has already been cut down, but why stop at 18 - why not cut it to 9? What else could we cut in this fashion?
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