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Chief Rabbinate of Israel

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.

History

The positions of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Chief Rabbi have existed before the state of Israel, those are known as the rabbis of the Yishuv haYashan. The title of the Sephardi Chief Rabbi is Rishon l'Zion.

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 .

Gedaliah Cordovero

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

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.

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.

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 four 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)

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.

British Mandate of Palestine

Ashkenazi

Abraham Isaac Kook (1921-1935)
Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog (1936-1949)

Sephardi

Jacob Meir (1921-1939)
Benzion Uziel (1939-1948)

Modern Israel

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)

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)

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.