Tel-Chai Nation

David Weinberg's voiced his support for rabbi David Stav, and says:

The voting body is faced with a clear choice: Elect the Zionist, "Klal Yisrael" oriented, Rabbi David Stav, who will rescue the rabbinate from putrefaction and irrelevancy, or elect yet another haredi-backed rabbi, Rabbi David Lau, who will preside over the continued decomposition and eventual disappearance of the rabbinate.

If Stav is elected, he has a shot at saving an important public institution and offering Israelis spiritual leadership that is attuned to the modern world. He intends to revamp the rabbinate within his first year in office in significant ways that are critically important specifically to the secular public.

However, if Lau is elected, he will likely be the last chief rabbi of the State of Israel. The Chief Rabbinate won't survive. The Knesset will curb the institution's powers or shut it down, and rightfully so.

While I also think Stav would be an important choice for a chief rabbi, I'm beginning to wonder if it would be for the best to shut it down regardless of who's chosen. After all, only so many anti-Zionist Haredis corrupted it, so in the end, it might be the best way to save money to boot. It doesn't mean rabbis of many different sections of society wouldn't still have influence, but at the same time, it might help teach some important lessons in responsibility, which is sorely lacking with a lot of the Haredi sects like Satmar and Toldot Aharon.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Judaism