Yona Metzger

Metzger was born in Haifa in 1953.[1] He completed his rabbinic studies at Kerem Be-Yavne hesder yeshiva.[1] His military service took him to the IDF's 7th Armored Brigade, first as a soldier and later as a chaplain, and he took part in battles to halt the Syrian advance on the Golan Heights during the Yom Kippur War.[3] He was ultimately discharged with the rank of captain.[1]

After his military service, Metzger taught in yeshiva and schools before entering congregational life.[1] In the early 1980s he became rabbi of the Tiferet Tzvi synagogue in central Tel Aviv, a post that established his reputation as a prominent wedding officiant. A profile described him as conducting several weddings in a day and traveling between ceremonies on a motorbike.[3] He subsequently served as regional rabbi of northern Tel Aviv.[1] He also published several books, two of which received prizes from the President of Israel.[1]

On April 14, 2003, Metzger was elected Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, receiving 63 votes against 56 for Yaakov Ariel and 20 for Shlomo Dichovsky.[8] He was elected with the support of senior ultra-Orthodox authority Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, while religious-Zionist rabbis opposed him and the National Religious Party backed Ariel.[8][3] He joined Shlomo Amar, who was elected Sephardic Chief Rabbi for the same period, and together they held office until 2013.[2]

His election was not without dispute. Sharon Shenhav argues that Metzger's candidacy faced strong public opposition on the grounds that he lacked the necessary qualifications, and that Elyashiv's influence prevailed in the outcome.[9] Yehudah Mirsky reported that earlier in his career Metzger had agreed to be disqualified from serving as a municipal rabbi in order to forestall disciplinary charges; when put forward for the national office, he contended that no such disqualification applied to serving the whole country.[10] A late-1990s controversy over reported payments for officiating at weddings had also led to a temporary revocation of his rabbinic certificate, which was later restored after he withdrew a candidacy for Tel Aviv chief rabbi.[3] He had joined the Council of the Chief Rabbinate in 2001, two years before his national election.[3]

As Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, Metzger shared legal authority over Jewish religious arrangements in Israel, including matters of marriage, divorce, conversion, and kosher certification.[6][2] The chief rabbinate's responsibilities also included a system of rabbinical courts.[10] He was an active figure on the international interfaith stage throughout his ten-year tenure.[4][5]

In September 2005, Metzger and Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar met Pope Benedict XVI at Castel Gandolfo, asking him to speak against the destruction of synagogues abandoned in the Gaza Strip. Metzger warned that the desecration of Jewish houses of worship could spread to churches and mosques: "The Second World War started with burning of synagogues; then the crematoriums, burning people."[4] The rabbis also invited the pope to visit Israel and urged him to encourage clergy to devote a day to teaching the principles of Nostra Aetate, the 1965 Vatican document on relations with Jews.[4]

That same November, during a visit to Armenia, Metzger laid a wreath at the Yerevan genocide memorial and publicly recognized the 1915 mass killings of Armenians as genocide. "Of course, I use the term 'genocide,'" he said, adding that the Jewish religious community recognized the genocide and grieved with the Armenian people.[11] His statement carried particular weight because Israel had not officially recognized the killings as genocide.[11]

At a Hindu-Jewish leadership summit in February 2007, Metzger proposed a "United Nations of religious groups" to foster dialogue across faiths and called on religious leaders to take a greater role in resolving conflicts. "Religion represents the political identity of a person, so it is used and abused. Therefore, religious leaders have special duties to end conflicts," he said at the summit.[5] The gathering's declaration called for a standing committee on Hindu-Jewish relations and education about both communities' histories of persecution.[5]

In November 2007, Metzger joined senior Muslim and Christian clergy in Washington, D.C., as a member of the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land.[12] The group's joint statement pledged to find ways to live together peacefully, proposed a rapid-response hotline on access to and protection of holy sites, and called for education promoting mutual respect.[12] The leaders agreed to seek a common vision for Jerusalem even as they acknowledged they had not reached agreement on the city's status.[12]

In August 2010, a car carrying Metzger came under attack after its driver accidentally entered the Qalandiya Refugee Camp while traveling to the Israeli settlement of Kochav Hashachar.[13] Metzger was unharmed and the assailants were not identified.[13] He also issued halakhic rulings on contemporary questions during his tenure, including a ruling permitting plastic surgery in certain circumstances, and said he had conceived the "silent wave" idea during the First Gulf War as a way to convey emergency information without requiring radio use on the Sabbath.[8]

Legal difficulties shadowed Metzger from the early years of his tenure. In 2004, it emerged that he and his family had stayed at the David Citadel Hotel in Jerusalem during Passover while the state was paying for an apartment for the family; a synagogue foundation separately paid for a hotel room used by three of his children during Shavuot.[14] Police recommended indictment, but Attorney General Menachem Mazuz declined to prosecute, concluding that a conviction was not probable.[14][3] Mazuz nonetheless issued a public report criticizing what he described as recurring disrespect for public funds, acceptance of illegal perks, untruthfulness, and evasion of responsibility, and recommended that Metzger resign.[14] Metzger challenged the report in the High Court and prevailed; the court annulled the recommendation, after which he requested and received reinstatement as a rabbinical judge.[15]

A separate covert investigation began approximately a year before June 2013 and was conducted by the National Fraud Investigations Unit.[3] Investigators alleged schemes involving donations to nonprofit organizations connected with Metzger, including suspicions that money raised for charities and the Aish HaTorah yeshiva had been diverted for personal use.[3] A search of his home found approximately NIS 40,000 in cash hidden in books, and roughly $200,000 was discovered placed with his sister in Haifa; he claimed the latter sum came from an inheritance, but investigators concluded the claim was untrue.[16] His former driver and confidant, Haim Eisenstadt, became a state witness.[3]

Metzger's tenure ended on July 24, 2013, when his successors were elected as the investigation proceeded.[6][10] He was under house arrest by then.[6][10] In January 2017, he admitted offenses under a plea agreement and was convicted of three counts of bribery, tax offenses, fraud, and obstruction of justice.[17] The original indictment had alleged bribes totaling NIS 8 million, of which he allegedly kept NIS 5 million; the amended plea reduced the bribe amount to NIS 5 million and removed some charges, including money laundering.[17] The agreement called for a three-and-a-half-year prison term and a NIS 5 million financial penalty, with an apartment among the assets subject to confiscation.[17]

The Jerusalem District Court initially imposed a four-and-a-half-year sentence, but Israel's Supreme Court accepted Metzger's appeal and restored the agreed three-and-a-half-year term, citing among other factors the plea agreement, his admission of responsibility, and evidentiary considerations, while stressing that the reduction did not diminish its condemnation of the offenses.[7] Metzger entered Maasiyahu Prison on May 1, 2017.[18] In March 2019, the parole board approved his early release after approximately 22 months and required him to participate in a rehabilitation program.[3][18] The State Prosecutor's Office did not object; President Reuven Rivlin had earlier rejected a clemency request, and release restrictions remained in force until December 2020.[19]

Metzger's years after office were shaped by his corruption conviction and imprisonment, while supporters and critics differed over whether he should return to a rabbinical role.[3][17] Following his release, he returned to Tiferet Tzvi synagogue in Tel Aviv, though his presence there divided the congregation: some opposed his return in any rabbinical capacity given his conviction, while supporters argued that he had served his sentence and deserved to be welcomed back.[3] He reportedly spent mornings studying at a yeshiva and attended the synagogue as an ordinary congregant in the afternoons.[3] Reports also indicated he was considering serving as a rabbi abroad, an idea his wife opposed.[3]

In a recording broadcast by Army Radio during this period, Metzger said he had lost 33 kilograms in prison and had studied Torah there more intensively than at any earlier point in his life.[3]

Metzger's recognition of the Armenian Genocide during his 2005 Yerevan visit was politically contentious: Israel had not officially recognized the 1915 killings as genocide, and the Turkish government denied that genocide had occurred, attributing the deaths to a civil war.[11] His personal statement was therefore at odds with Israeli state policy at the time.

His 2003 election remained a subject of debate. Sharon Shenhav argues that Metzger was widely seen as unqualified, and that Rabbi Elyashiv's backing overrode the objections of religious-Zionist authorities.[9] Shenhav further characterizes his early tenure as "stormy" and writes that he might be forced to resign as of 2006.[9] These are assessments offered by a commentator, not adjudicated findings.

In February 2025, police questioned Metzger under caution following a complaint alleging an indecent act against a boy under 16, reportedly alleged to have taken place on a Tel Aviv beach.[20] He was released on bail under restrictive conditions and denied that the alleged incident occurred.[20] An earlier report recounted public accusations of inappropriate touching made in 2003 by four men and a later allegation described by journalist Mazal Mualem. It said most of those earlier allegations did not lead to police investigations, while people close to Metzger at the time called the claims baseless.[21] The February 18, 2025 report said the new investigation was continuing; it did not report an adjudication or later disposition.[20]