New interim chief rabbi appointed, previous resigned over inclusion of female rabbis

A member of the Council of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, Rabbi Yitzhak Ralbag, has been appointed the interim Chief Rabbi of Israel after the previous interim rabbi, Yaakov Roja, announced his retirement, Israeli media announced on Sunday.

Ralbag's appointment was made according to the rule that that the oldest member of the rabbinical council will fill the position in the absence of a serving chief rabbi.

The previous interim, Roja, refused to comply with the High Court's order to appoint female rabbis to the committee which appoints the chief rabbis, which is one of the reasons he left the post according to Ynet.

Rabbi Roja received the order to choose 10 representatives to form an assembly to elect a chief rabbi, which is yet to be formed due to the unwillingness to consider the appointment of female rabbis who had undergone rabbinical training as the rabbinical representatives, said Ynet. He said, "there is no halachic possibility for women to become rabbis."

Some council members said they would resign if required to appoint female rabbis.

Like uncle, like nephew 

Rabbi Ralbag, who is 80 years old, is the father-in-law of the former Ashkenazi chief rabbi David Lau, who left his position two weeks ago without a successor. No elections have been held for the position of chief Ashekanzi rabbi or chief Sephardi rabbi (the position vacated by Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.)

Rabbi Ralbag, who also serves as chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, has accepted the position of the acting president of the Rabbinate Council.