Desperately Seeking a Chief Rabbi

Help Wanted:  The City of Jerusalem seeks two Chief Rabbis

Qualifications for one: male, Zionist, "able to embrace all elements of Jerusalem's diverse populace and connect the entire Jewish people to Jerusalem,  including secular Israelis who love Jerusalem and who serve in the army," according to Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.

Qualifications for the second: male, clothed in black, non-Zionist, intolerant, won't eat food under the hashgacha [supervision] of the Chief Rabbinate, intolerant of non-Orthodox streams and of secular Jews, against army service, related to another present or former chief rabbi.

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Saying Kaddish for Conservative Judaism?

In his recent remarks to The Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Norman Lamm, the esteemed chancellor of Yeshiva University, pronounced the time near to say Kaddish [the prayer for the dead] for the Conservative and the Reform Movements.
 
I shall leave it to the leaders of the Reform Movement to react to his criticism of their stream - I shall react to his criticism of Conservative/Masorti Judaism.
 
Rabbi Lamm states, "The Conservatives are in a mood of despondency and pessimism."
 
I am not certain upon what he bases this assertion. I, for one, am optimistic and foresee a firm future for Judaism and for the Masorti Movement.

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Black Hat Politics

Anybody know exactly what the Israeli Interior Ministry's intended functions may be? Yes, we all know that it is where we go to apply for a new passport or replace a lost ID card. We know that requests for aliyah [immigration], or visas (work, tourist, student, etc.) are routed through one of its departments.

But should this be the office that Shas, the Sephardi religious political party, most covets? What is really going on?

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A bone to pick with our Chief Rabbinate

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel has been defined as "the supreme  religious governing body in the State of  Israel". Of course, even if there was validity to this definition - let us not forget to add "for the Jewish people." For there is no single body that can govern over all of the recognized religions. The State of Israel respects, or certainly ought to respect, residents of all religious faith traditions.
 
So who should serve as the Chief Rabbi of Israel? Well, to begin with, lack of agreement on this question means that we have two Chief Rabbis. One Ashkenazi and one Sephardi. In the city of Tel Aviv, where the city council imposed budgetary constraints, they somehow manage to make due with but one municipal Chief Rabbi.

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