Does the IDF have a Chief Rabbi?

“The attempt to disqualify the appointment of the rabbi due to his legitimate Torah views is something that will end badly for the entire Torah world in the State of ... read more

The Chief Rabbinate of Israel consists of two Chief Rabbis: an Ashkenazi rabbi and a Sephardi rabbi, also known as the Rishon leZion. The Chief Rabbis are elected for 10 year terms. The present Sephardi Chief Rabbi is Yitzhak Yosef and the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi is David Lau, both of whom commenced their terms in 2013. read more

The current Ashkenazi chief rabbi is David Lau, and the current Sephardi chief rabbi is Yitzhak Yosef. Interesting fact about the latter: his father, who was also chief rabbi of Israel, was born in Iraq in 1920 as Abdullah Yusuf, back in the good ol’ days when there were hundreds of thousands of Jews with Arabic names. read more