Kalman Ber was elected chief rabbi of the Ashkenazi of Israel

Rabbi Kalman Ber, 66, has been elected Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Israel, according to official results announced by the rabbinate, amid controversy over military service for ultra-Orthodox Jews in the war-torn country. A month after the appointment of his Sephardic colleague, Chief Rabbi David Yosef, Kalman Ber was elected with 77 votes to 58 for his opponent Micha Halevi. A popular orator, Rabbi Ber was supported by the ultra-Orthodox and religious Zionist rabbis. Coming from a long rabbinic lineage, Kalman Ber, who unlike his Sephardi colleague served in the Israeli army, has been the rabbi of the city of Netanya, in central Israel, for the past ten years. In the midst of the war that has been raging for the past year or so, Israel is experiencing a social crisis over the issue of conscription for ultra-Orthodox Jews, who benefit from an exemption for Talmudic students, while in […]
Source: News Beast

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