Chief rabbi

Inheriting moral instincts: How choices become a legacy – opinion

Our descendants absorb what we choose to do in times of crisis: they act based on what they watched us forgive, defend, and risk for others.

|ByKENNETH BRANDER
A rabbi blows a shoat ahead of Yom Kippur at the Western Wall in Jerusalem in 2026.
REUVEN WABASHAT, Israel’s chief rabbi of the Ethiopian community, is seen in Jerusalem in 2018.

Could an Ethiopian Israeli become prime minister, president, or chief rabbi? - opinion

An Ethiopian Israeli should also be capable of leading a major Zionist or Jewish institution, and should appear on CNN, Fox News, the BBC, or Sky News.

|BySHMUEL LEGESSE
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Axelrod, Chief Rabbi of the Republic of Moldova.

Moldova hires first chief rabbi in 12 years, new chapter for revived Jewish community - interview

Chabad played an instrumental in Moldova since the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022, providing support for refugees, coordinating travel and in general providing a base for those in need.

|ByMATHILDA HELLER
KASHRUT CERTIFICATION at a Jerusalem eatery – will the rabbinate’s monopoly be broken?

Knesset repeals 2021 kashrut reform, restores Rabbinate control over certification

Under the law, official kashrut certificates may be issued by the Chief Rabbinate Council, authorized local rabbis, and, within the IDF, the Military Rabbinate.

|BySARAH BEN-NUN

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

Movers and shakers in Israeli society.

DECEMBER 26, 2025ByGREER FAY CASHMAN
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau, alongside David Fattal, chats with Assaf and Nadav Fattal.

Tune into today's top stories: Polar bears take arctic base, Trump's Gaza peace push - September 29

The Jerusalem Post's must-listen news roundup with Shifra Jacobs—the top stories, clear and concise.

SEPTEMBER 29, 2025ByJERUSALEM POST PODCASTS
A polar bear looks on at the abandoned Soviet-era research station on Kolyuchin Island in the Chukchi Sea, in Russia's far northeast, September 14, 2025, in this still image taken from a drone video.

IDF soldiers killed due to yeshivas 'neglecting Torah study', former chief rabbi claims

Yitzhak Yosef condoled the families of the five soldiers killed in Gaza's Beit Hanun in an open letter, calling for increased Torah study, implicitly denouncing haredi draft attempts.

JULY 8, 2025ByJAMES GENN
Shas spiritual leader and former Sephardic chief rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef, seen during a weekly lecture at the Yazdim synagogue in Jerusalem, June 07, 2025; illustrative.

NGO: Travel is essential right, must be provided, even on Shabbat

Israel Hofsheet also demanded the particular provision of transport options to the around 150,000 Israelis stuck abroad after Israeli airspace was closed at the start of Operation Rising Lion.

JUNE 18, 2025BySARAH BEN-NUN
View of the almost empty Ben-Gurion Airport, after all flights were cancelled following an Israeli attack on Iran, June 13, 2025.

Sacred stones scandal: How a five-ton Kotel relic shook Jerusalem

After sparking religious backlash, the Israel Antiquities Authority agrees to rebury ancient Western Wall stones, affirming their status as sacred relics subject to Jewish law, not museum pieces.

JUNE 4, 2025ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF
The Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) has vowed to rebury all ancient Western Wall stones removed from display and return them to their original burial sites.

Will Isaac Herzog be remembered among his historic family? - opinion

It must be asked: What qualities does he display now, halfway through his seven-year term? How does he envisage his legacy, compared to that of other Herzogs?

JANUARY 23, 2025ByTOVA HERZL
PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG places a note in the Western Wall last Sunday, with a prayer for the well-being of the three hostages returning to freedom later in the day, the return of all hostages, military success, a recovery for all those injured, and unity.

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef: Even haredi men who don't work are prohibited from serving in the IDF

The Prime Minister's Office responded to the remarks, criticizing them as "unacceptable and deserving of complete condemnation."

DECEMBER 15, 2024ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF, WALLA!
Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef sells the hametz (leavened food) of the State of Israel to Arab Israeli Mr Jaber before the upcoming Passover holiday in Jerusalem, April 21, 2024.

Breaking the mold: A historic opportunity for the chief rabbis to revitalize Judaism - opinion

The continued erosion of trust in the rabbinate risks polarizing and marginalizing Judaism within Israeli society even further. The new chief rabbis have a historic opportunity to reverse this trend.

NOVEMBER 18, 2024BySETH FARBER
PRESIDENT ISAAC HERZOG sits with the incoming chief rabbis, Ashkenazi Rabbi Kalman Ber (right) and Sephardic Rabbi David Yosef, at their swearing-in ceremony at the President’s Residence in Jerusalem earlier this month.

Herzog, grandson of Israel’s first Chief Rabbi Inaugurates current Chief Rabbis

President Herzog, the grandson of the first Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of the State of Israel, hosted Rabbi Kalman Ber and Rabbi David Yosef.

NOVEMBER 5, 2024ByGREER FAY CASHMAN
Israeli president Isaac Herzog at “The Presidential Award for Civilian Heroism”, at the President's Residence in Jerusalem on October 30, 2024.

'He just hates women': Smotrich-backed chief rabbi nom. faces controversy over child support policy

Smotrich’s support for Halevi is in contrast to the committee he himself established with rabbis from the religious Zionist community.

SEPTEMBER 27, 2024ByBINI ASCHKENASY
FINANCE MINISTER Bezalel Smotrich speaks at a news conference at the Finance Ministry in Jerusalem, last week.