It should be noted to the credit of the chief rabbis elected on July 24 that they sought to display “a victor's generosity.” Being aware of the hostility of the secular public toward the body they have been chosen to head, Rabbis David Lau and Yitzhak Yosef endeavored to allay public concerns. In their first statements following their election to office, the two pledged to act to bring Israelis closer to the rabbinical establishment and make things easier for them, wherever and whenever possible. All of a sudden, the Aramaic phrase [literally translated as] “by force of the permission given“ — which denotes a lenient approach in the religious Jewish law — has come into vogue.

The day after the vote, the two newly elected rabbis paid a visit of honor to Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. The rabbi — truly happy with the great victory, which assured him continued control of this strategic stronghold — ordered his son, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, and Lau to avoid any unnecessarily strict religious rulings, and do their best to bring Israelis closer to the Torah. Really sweet of him! Even the sympathetic Pope Francis could not have been softer or more conciliatory.

Had we been naive, we could have been misled to believe that a new leaf is about to be turned. No more a stern and dogmatic rabbinical establishment — from now on it is going to be an open-minded and pluralistic rabbinate. Alas, this is obviously not the case. As a matter of fact — just like it has been in the past 20 years — the newly elected rabbis are no more than puppets on a string, manipulated by the leading ultra-Orthodox rabbis. Ashkenazi (of East European origin) Lau would not have been elected had it not been for the backing of prominent ultra-Orthodox leader Rabbi Steinman, while Sephardi (of Middle Eastern origin) Yosef would have remained an anonymous and ineffectual figure had his father not selected and promoted him to the position. The rabbis — aware of the antagonistic mood toward the ultra-Orthodox community prevailing in the Israeli street — use sweet talk in their appeal to the public at large. However, as far as essential issues relating to Jewish religious law are concerned, they are committed first and foremost to the hard-liners' ultra-Orthodox establishment

Not only Israelis should be concerned about the possibility that the Chief Rabbinate will continue to act as the executive branch of the ultra-Orthodox establishment, Jewish communities in North America may also be affected by the present state of affairs. In its previous term, the Knesset sought to push through a new law that would regulate once and for all the conversion system in Israel. Knesset member David Rotem (Yisrael Beitenu), who introduced the bill, attempted to simplify and thereby facilitate the cumbersome conversion process.