Chief rabbi

Argentina's Sephardi chief rabbi reaffirms 100-year-old ruling on conversions, sparks controversy

A controversial ruling in Argentina reaffirms a 100-year-old conversion ban, fueling tensions between Orthodox and non-Orthodox movements.

Facade of Templo de la Libertad synagogue, Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 2, 2018
Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilos III shares a laugh with President Isaac Herzog.

Grapevine, January 16, 2026: Christian ‘Who’s Who’ in Israel

 SUPREME COURT President Isaac Amit presides over a hearing last Tuesday on petitions against the cabinet’s firing of Shin Bet head Ronen Bar.

High Court freezes Tel Aviv chief rabbi election, citing flawed consultation process

Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, alongside David Fattal, chats with Assaf and Nadav Fattal.

Grapevine, December 26, 2025: In his father’s footsteps


Chief Rabbinate declares it will not cooperate with gov’t kashrut reforms

Chief Rabbi Lau said that religiously traditional Israelis and foreign visitors will not be able to understand the differences between competing kashrut authorities.

Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau.

Reform movement petitions High Court on Jerusalem chief rabbi ‘incitement’

Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Shlomo Amar has described homosexuals as “a cult of abomination” and said non-Orthodox Jews were worse than Holocaust deniers.

SEPHARDIC CHIEF Rabbi of Jerusalem Shlomo Amar: Time to go?

Yitzhak Yosef has no business being chief rabbi of Israel - opinion

Change system and criteria for choosing next chief rabbis long before the next vote in 2023

SEPHARDI CHIEF RABBI Yitzhak Yosef speaks at a Shas Party election rally at the Yazdim Synagogue in Jerusalem last year.

Municipal chief rabbis to be bound by term limits

Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana intends to create a time-limited service period for municipal chief rabbis, after which they can be reelected, to ensure they stay accountable and relevant.

Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu attends to the funeral of Rabbi Elazar Mordechai Koenig in Safed on December 31, 2018.

You need math, English for Torah: Rebuttal to Chief Rabbi Yosef - opinion

Everyone should learn Torah, plenty of it, but it’s rather hard to learn Torah without the aid of the skills imparted by what is called the core curriculum.

CHILDREN STUDY Hebrew letters at a school in Mea She’arim.

‘Legislation on dayanim selection committee discriminates against men’

Legislation proposed by the government to change how women are selected to serve on the Selection Committee for Rabbinical Judges would mean that no more men could be appointed now.

New Knesset member Avi Maoz seen at the Knesset , ahead of the opening Knesset session of the new government, on April 05, 2021.

Chief Rabbi Yosef: Science, math are nonsense, study in yeshiva instead

The chief rabbi spoke proudly of not finishing school or having a high school diploma, and said learning Torah was far more important.

Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef at a Remembrance Day 2021 Ceremony

‘Exhume Christian missionary from Jewish plot,’ chief rabbi says

Amanda Elk was a covert Christian missionary and is buried in a Jewish cemetery. Her husband is refusing to rebury her in a non-Jewish cemetery.

Har HaMenuchot cemetery, Jerusalem

Matan Kahana wants to fix Israel's divisions over religion, state

New religious services minister has set a goal of decentralizing conversion, reforming kashrut supervision and changing the electoral body for chief rabbis to ensure religious-Zionist rabbi is elected.

Religious Services Minister Matan Kahana (Yamina) is seen speaking at the transition ceremony where he replaces now former minister Yaakov Avitan, on June 14, 2021.

France's Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia re-elected with 75% of the votes

Two other rabbis ran for the title gathering only 64 votes in total.

France's Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia