Shlomo Riskin Wins New 5-Year Term as Chief Rabbi
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
Rabbi Shlomo Riskin’s term as chief rabbi of Efrat reportedly has been extended by the Council of the Chief Rabbinate for five more years.
The Council’s hearing was held Monday. Riskin turned 75 last month, the age at which municipal rabbis are required to retire unless their tenure is extended five more years, as is usually done automatically.
Late last month, the Chief Rabbinate declined to automatically renew Riskin’s appointment as Efrat’s chief rabbi, and summoned him for the hearing. Riskin has been the chief rabbi of Efrat since 1983, when he helped found the settlement located in the Gush Etzion bloc of the West Bank.
Riskin recently appointed a woman, Jennie Rosenfeld, to serve as a religious leader in Efrat, giving her the title “manhiga ruchanit,” or spiritual adviser. He has also come under fire from the Chief Rabbinate for his views on reforming the conversion process in Israel, supporting a government directive that would allow municipal chief rabbis to form conversion courts rather than requiring potential converts to appear before four Chief Rabbinate-led courts.
These issues reportedly were discussed in connection with summoning Riskin for the hearing.
During Monday’s hearing, the legal advisor to the chief rabbinate said that only health issues may be considered in determining whether to extend the term of a municipal rabbi, the Religious Zionist Israel National News website reported. In approving the extension, the council said it disagreed with many of Riskin’s halachic opinions, according to INN. The council also reportedly appointed a committee to establish new guidelines as to what can be discussed in extending a municipal rabbi’s term.
Earlier this month, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi David Lau said that “the issue of Rabbi Riskin’s continued service has been blown out of proportion.”
In addition, Israel’s chief Sephardi rabbi, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, slammed Riskin during his weekly sermon, saying he made “all kinds of innovations” regarding women and is “making a new war.”
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