Chief Rabbis of Israel and Mandatory Palestine

The Chief Rabbinate is led by two chief rabbis representing the Ashkenazi and Sephardi traditions. The Sephardi chief rabbi is also known as the Rishon LeZion. During their ten-year terms, the two officeholders alternate in leading the Chief Rabbinate Council and the Supreme Rabbinical Court.[5]

The electoral system combines rabbinic and public representation, although the size and composition of the voting body have changed. In 2013, 150 people were eligible to vote, including 80 rabbis and 70 government or local-authority officials.[2] The 2024 Ashkenazi runoff involved a 140-member electoral body divided equally between rabbis and public representatives.[8]

The current chief rabbis are Kalman Ber, elected Ashkenazi chief rabbi on October 31, 2024, and David Yosef, elected Sephardi chief rabbi on September 29, 2024.[6][7]

Under Ottoman rule, the recognized Sephardi religious authority in Jerusalem was the Hakham Bashi, who also used the title Rishon LeZion. Nissim Yehudah Danon relinquished that office in 1918, and no successor was appointed before the creation of the joint Mandate-era Chief Rabbinate. The older Sephardi office and the institution established in 1921 therefore should not be treated as an uninterrupted single office.[4]

A committee appointed by High Commissioner Herbert Samuel proposed a joint rabbinate and an electoral board composed primarily of rabbis, with lay representation. The eventual electoral lists contained 88 officiating rabbis and 34 laymen.[4] On February 22, 1921, the first elections to the Rabbinical Council of Palestine selected Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook as Ashkenazi chief rabbi and Yaakov Meir as Sephardi chief rabbi.[3] The British authorities recognized the council and its authorized courts as the principal Jewish-law authorities within their jurisdiction.[4]

Kook had become rabbi of Jaffa and the surrounding agricultural settlements in 1904 and chief rabbi of Jerusalem in 1919. He served as the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Palestine until his death on September 1, 1935.[9] The British Mandate’s 1936 report records that Isaac Halevi Herzog, then chief rabbi of the Irish Free State, was elected to succeed him on December 1, 1936. The same election unanimously returned Yaakov Meir to the Sephardi office.[10]

After Meir’s death in 1939, Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel became Sephardi chief rabbi and Rishon LeZion. He had previously served the Sephardi communities of Jaffa, Salonika, and Tel Aviv and remained chief rabbi until his death in 1953.[11] Herzog and Uziel carried the paired leadership through the final Mandate years and into Israeli statehood.

The two offices sometimes reflected distinct communal perspectives. During a late-1920s dispute over Jerusalem’s principal Jewish synagogue, Kook supported the Hurva Synagogue, while Meir supported the Yohanan Ben Zakkai Synagogue, also known as the Ribaz.[12] Herzog and Uziel also acted jointly, issuing an appeal against revenge attacks and the spilling of innocent blood without trial.[13]

The Chief Rabbinate regulates major areas of Jewish public religious life in Israel. Its responsibilities include kashrut standards and personal-status matters such as marriage, divorce, burial, and conversion.[1] The chief rabbis also lead the rabbinical court system, whose jurisdiction includes marriage, divorce, and adoption.[2]

The institution’s authority has never been universally accepted. A Library of Congress country study describes official rabbinical courts operating alongside independent ultra-Orthodox courts. It records that groups including Agudat Israel and Neturei Karta rejected or disputed the authority of the state-sponsored rabbinate, with Agudat Israel’s community guided by its own Council of Torah Sages.[14]

Yitzhak Nissim became Sephardi chief rabbi in 1955 and served until 1972. Born in Baghdad in 1896, he immigrated to the Land of Israel in 1925 and published responsa throughout his life.[15] A 1955 photograph shows him serving as Rishon LeZion alongside Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Isaac Herzog.[16]

Isser Yehuda Unterman succeeded Herzog as Ashkenazi chief rabbi. Encyclopedia.com dates his election to 1964; he remained in office until the succession that brought Shlomo Goren to the Ashkenazi post in the early 1970s.[17][18]

Nissim’s tenure became entangled with repeated changes to election law. A 2012 Ynet historical commentary reported that, after a legal challenge alleged that he lacked the required active rabbinic experience, the Knesset retroactively removed that qualification. It also described election postponements and extensions that allowed him to remain in office for approximately seventeen years.[19]

Shlomo Goren succeeded Unterman as Ashkenazi chief rabbi, while Ovadia Yosef succeeded Nissim as Sephardi chief rabbi. Sources differ between 1972 and 1973 for the beginning of their national service: the Center for Israel Education dates Goren’s term to 1973–1983, while Globes dates Yosef’s tenure from 1972.[18][20] The World Jewish Congress says Yosef was named national chief rabbi three years after becoming chief Sephardi rabbi of Tel Aviv and held the national office for ten years.[21]

Goren had previously established and led the IDF Military Rabbinate.[18] Yosef had served as chief rabbi in Cairo, joined the Chief Rabbinate Council in 1965, and became chief rabbi of Tel Aviv in 1968.[20]

While serving as Sephardi chief rabbi, Yosef recognized the Jewish status of Ethiopia’s Beta Israel community, a ruling that aided the immigration of Ethiopian Jews.[20][21] After failing to obtain another term, he established the Shas party in 1984. Shas subsequently became an enduring participant in Israeli politics, while Yosef remained its spiritual leader.[21] More than half a million people attended his funeral in 2013.[21]

A law limiting chief rabbis to one ten-year term prevented Goren and Yosef from continuing in office.[19] Avraham Shapira became Ashkenazi chief rabbi in 1983, and Mordechai Eliyahu replaced Yosef as Sephardi chief rabbi. Eliyahu served for ten years alongside Shapira, through 1993.[22]

Their election placed two leading religious-Zionist rabbis at the head of the institution. Eliyahu initially avoided overt political involvement but later became an influential public voice on territorial and religious questions.[22]

In 1993, Yisrael Meir Lau became Ashkenazi chief rabbi and Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron became Sephardi chief rabbi and Rishon LeZion. They served together until 2003.[23] Lau had previously held chief-rabbi posts in Netanya and Tel Aviv.[5]

Lau later recalled that he and Bakshi-Doron had come from different backgrounds and had not known one another before their election. Although they disagreed privately, they maintained a united public front and developed a lasting friendship.[23]

Yona Metzger became Ashkenazi chief rabbi in 2003, while Shlomo Amar became Sephardi chief rabbi. They served until David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef replaced them in 2013.[24][25]

In 2005, Metzger and Amar met Pope Benedict XVI and asked him to encourage religious leaders to designate a day for teaching the principles of Nostra Aetate, the Vatican document on relations with non-Christian religions published on October 28, 1965.[26]

Metzger’s later conviction and imprisonment for financial crimes caused serious reputational damage to the institution. The offenses included bribery, money laundering, and tax violations.[25]

On July 24, 2013, David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef were elected to ten-year terms as the Ashkenazi and Sephardi chief rabbis, respectively. Each received 68 of the 147 ballots cast by 150 eligible voters.[2] The electoral body included 80 rabbis representing religious councils and 70 government and local-authority officials.[2]

The election reflected a contest between ultra-Orthodox and modern Orthodox Zionist candidates. The Jewish Home party backed Shmuel Eliyahu and David Stav, whose campaign emphasized reforming the rabbinate and making it more accessible to secular Israelis.[2][27] After his victory, Yitzhak Yosef pledged to serve as chief rabbi “for all of Israel, whether they are Haredi, religious or secular.”[2]

Both winners were sons of former chief rabbis. David Lau is the son of Yisrael Meir Lau, while Yitzhak Yosef is the son of Ovadia Yosef.[24]

The elections intended to replace David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef were repeatedly delayed, extending their service beyond the ten years originally contemplated in 2013.[8] David Yosef was elected Sephardi chief rabbi on September 29, 2024, succeeding his brother Yitzhak Yosef. His election marked the third time a member of the Yosef family had held the Sephardi office.[6]

The first round of the Ashkenazi election ended in a 40–40 tie between Kalman Ber and Micha Halevi. A ballot bearing Halevi’s name was disqualified because it had been placed in the ballot box for the Sephardi election.[8] In the October 31 runoff, Ber defeated Halevi by 77 votes to 58 and was elected to a ten-year term.[8]

Ber and David Yosef have served as Israel’s chief rabbis since 2024.[6][7]

The following tables list the officeholders and dates most clearly supported by the available sources. A slash indicates a genuine disagreement between sources rather than an assertion that two dates are equally authoritative.

Ashkenazi Chief Rabbis

Officeholder	Term
Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook	1921–1935[9]
Isaac Halevi Herzog	1936–1959[10][28]
Isser Yehuda Unterman	1964–1972/73[17][18]
Shlomo Goren	1972/73–1983[18]
Avraham Shapira	1983–1993[22]
Yisrael Meir Lau	1993–2003[23]
Yona Metzger	2003–2013[25]
David Lau	2013–2024[2][8]
Kalman Ber	2024–present[8][7]

Sephardi Chief Rabbis and Rishon LeZion

Officeholder	Term
Yaakov Meir	1921–1939[10]
Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel	1939–1953[11]
Yitzhak Nissim	1955–1972[15]
Ovadia Yosef	1972/73–1983[20][21]
Mordechai Eliyahu	1983–1993[22]
Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron	1993–2003[23]
Shlomo Amar	2003–2013[24][25]
Yitzhak Yosef	2013–2024[2][6]
David Yosef	2024–present[6]

The tables do not infer officeholders for periods that the verified sources did not clearly document.

Abraham Isaac Hacohen Kook gave religious legitimacy to Zionism by presenting secular Zionists as unwitting participants in the reestablishment of the Land of Israel and a broader Jewish renaissance.[29] His religious-Zionist thought made the founding chief rabbinate more than an administrative office and helped shape a lasting theological movement.

Isaac Halevi Herzog carried the Ashkenazi office across the Holocaust, the War of Independence, and Israel’s early statehood. He opposed the British White Paper and traveled in search of Jewish children hidden in Catholic institutions after the Holocaust. The World Jewish Congress recounts that children revealed their Jewish identity after he recited the Shema in a monastery hall.[30][28] His funeral drew thousands of yeshiva students, kibbutz members, and Israelis from varied backgrounds.[30]

Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel served as Sephardi chief rabbi under both the Mandate and the State of Israel. He is among the figures credited with composing the Prayer for the State of Israel, although research discussed by the Jewish Agency concluded that Herzog wrote it.[31]

Ovadia Yosef’s recognition of Beta Israel, establishment of Shas, and restoration of Sephardi religious and political confidence gave his influence an importance extending well beyond his decade as chief rabbi.[20][21] Yisrael Meir Lau and Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron later demonstrated that the dual leadership could maintain public unity despite differences between its officeholders.[23]

Yona Metzger’s criminal conviction illustrated the reputational risks created when the office becomes entangled with corruption, while the elections of Kalman Ber and David Yosef in 2024 renewed the paired leadership after a prolonged electoral delay.[25][8]

The most significant chronological dispute concerns Isaac Halevi Herzog. A World Jewish Congress article says that he immigrated to Mandatory Palestine and succeeded Kook in 1939.[30] The British Mandate’s own 1936 report, however, records Herzog’s election on December 1, 1936, and the Jerusalem Post likewise states that he became chief rabbi of the Land of Israel in 1936.[10][28] The contemporary Mandate report provides the stronger basis for dating his election.

Sources also vary between 1972 and 1973 for the beginning of Shlomo Goren’s and Ovadia Yosef’s terms. The Center for Israel Education dates Goren’s tenure to 1973–1983, while Globes gives Yosef’s term as 1972–1983.[18][20] The World Jewish Congress supports a 1973 start for Yosef by placing his national appointment three years after his 1968 appointment in Tel Aviv.[21]

Election law has repeatedly generated controversy. During Yitzhak Nissim’s tenure, eligibility rules were changed retroactively following a legal challenge, and election postponements extended his service.[19] In 2013, the election became a political contest over whether the rabbinate should remain under ultra-Orthodox influence or undergo reforms promoted by modern Orthodox Zionist candidates.[27]

The institution’s legitimacy has also been disputed within Orthodox Judaism. Ultra-Orthodox groups have maintained independent courts and rabbinic councils rather than recognizing the authority of the state-sponsored rabbinate.[14] Separately, Metzger’s conviction for financial crimes intensified criticism of the institution’s governance and public standing.[25]