Religion Magazine
All the wheeling and dealing around the selection of the final candidates for the positions of Chief Rabbis of Israel is precisely why the method of appointment needs to be changed. It needs to be removed from politics, and removed from the hands of the politicians. The politics involved, the negotiations, the smearing - none of that brings honor to the rabbis under consideration, nor to whichever rabbi will end up being chosen. At the end of the process it is the rabbis who had the "dirtiest" and more "ruthless" backers that will end up in the positions.
The negotiations and dealings and considerations for changing the law cause a situation where every day a different rabbi, generally one who is "connected" somehow, is named as the target beneficiary of the dealing, and never has it yet been discussed why this or that rabbi is more worthy than the others or more appropriate than the others for the position.
As I have said before, I believe that whichever candidate ends up getting the position will not affect most people directly in any way, except for maybe State policy regarding shmitta that is coming up soon. Just about everything else will stay the same. It is a shame to turn the selection of a rabbi, one who is supposed to represent the people and to be someone the people can proudly look up to, into a political selection totally devoid from values. Perhaps they really do deserve the lack of respect so many people have for the position.
Any chief rabbi candidate that would say he refuses to be a part of this dirty process is the one that is most deserving of the position. The rest of them, all those that are trying to benefit from the dirt being dealt, are the ones who should not be in the seat.
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