Rav Kalman Ber, Chief Rabbi of Netanya, has been elected as Israel’s Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi after winning 77 votes in today’s runoff election, while his opponent, Rav Micha Halevi, Chief Rabbi of Pesach Tikva, received 58 votes.
Rav Ber will serve alongside Rav David Yosef, who was appointed Sephardic Chief Rabbi last month, taking over from his brother, Rav Yitzchok Yosef.
The positions of Chief Rabbis had been vacant since July when Rav Yitzchok Yosef and former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau stepped down, marking the first official vacancy in over a century. The election for their successors and for the Chief Rabbinate Council had faced multiple delays due to legal battles over board membership requirements, which were ultimately resolved when a court order to include women on the voting board was reversed.
