The Chief Rabbinical Council will hold on Monday the last meeting of its current term to make a series of decisions about kashrut supervision, the ordination of rabbis and rabbinical court judges, burials and more.
One of the items on the agenda of the body that determines policy for the Chief Rabbinate is authorizing Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger to continue to sign the kashrut certificates issued by the Jerusalem Rabbinate even after he finishes his term as chief rabbi later this month.
Following an inquiry by Haaretz, it is possible that he will leave the room when the vote on this issue is taken.
Metzger has been signing the Jerusalem kashrut certificates because there has been no chief rabbi of Jerusalem for 10 years. Supervising the kosher certification in Jerusalem is a powerful job that comes with a substantial budget.
It isn’t clear what terms Metzger would be granted if he retains this position, and the rabbinate spokesman said the terms wouldn’t be set at Monday’s meeting in any case.
End of term
Both Metzger and Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar end their 10-year terms on March 24, just before Passover.
Because of the Knesset elections, a vote on their replacements had to be postponed and no new date has been set.
During this transition period the rabbinate will be headed by Rabbi Yosef Glicksberg, chief rabbi of Givatayim and the most senior of the country’s city rabbis.
A rabbinical court judge will be also chosen as interim head of the Supreme Rabbinical Court of Appeals.
Rabbi David Stav has already begun campaigning for the position of Ashkenazi chief rabbi.
The race for Sephardic chief rabbi is in limbo until Shas decides whether to try to pass a law that would allow Amar to serve another term.
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