Close Race: Nir Barkat, the secular mayor of Jerusalem, narrowly won an election for a second term. Image by Getty Images

More than 1,000 Diaspora rabbis called on Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to withdraw his support for Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, known for his anti-Arab stances, as chief rabbi of the city.

The rabbis, including the leaders of the major non-Orthodox Jewish movements and the head of the New Israel Fund, sent the letter to Barkat on Tuesday, The Jerusalem Post reported.

Barkat’s office has denied the mayor is supporting Eliyahu, who is considered one of the most fundamentalist modern Orthodox rabbis in Israel, for the post, Haaretz reported.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The positions of Ashkenazi and Sephardi chief rabbi of Jerusalem have been vacant for more than 10 years, according to The Jerusalem Post.

Eliyahu, currently the chief rabbi of Safed, has been under fire in recent years for anti-Arab remarks and religious rulings. He has called on Jews not to rent or sell apartments to non-Jews and been quoted as saying, “A Jew should not run away from an Arab. A Jew should chase away Arabs.” Eliyahu is the son of the late Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu.

Among those who signed the letter to Barkat were Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the Reform movement; Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, head of the Conservative movement; liberal Orthodox Rabbi Asher Lopatin; Reconstructionist Rabbi Deborah Waxman; and Rabbi Brian Lurie, president of the New Israel Fund.

The rabbis said in the letter that appointing Eliyahu to the post would “send a message of divisiveness and intolerance.” Israeli Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein opposed Eliyahu’s recent candidacy for the position of chief rabbi of Israel.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’re near the end of our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we have a very ambitious goal of $127,000 by April 21.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism you rely on. Make a Passover gift today!

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Make a Passover Gift Today!

$90 $180

$360

Other amount