(Terrasanta.net) – An article called, “Election of New Chief Rabbis Considered Victory for Ultra-Orthodox Jews” was posted by Terrasanta.net and reports that Yitzhak Yosef and David Lau have been elected the two new Chief Rabbis of Israel.
Rabbi Yosef is Sephardi, Lau an Ashkenazi, and both will serve a decade in office.
At 47 years old, Rabbi David Lau, the fourth son of Yisrael, is the youngest rabbi ever to be elected to the position of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
The other elected Chief Rabbi is Yitzhak Yosef, 61, the current spiritual leader of the religious Shas party.
The Israeli press considers the outcome of the vote a victory for the ultra-Orthodox. Yosef vowed to be “the chief rabbi for all of Israel, whether they are haredi, religious, or secular,” the Jerusalem Post reported. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu called both Lau and Yosef to congratulate them, saying “this is the time to work to unite the people of Israel, and to increase the love of Israel.”
Since 2002, delegations of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Holy See have met periodically to reflect on issues of ethical and religious interest. The meetings grew out of the Second Vatican Council declaration Nostra Aetate on the Church’s relations with non-Christian religions.