Da'as Torah may be technical as well so u may lets not have any Rabbis either. Your comments are rediculous and devoid of appreciation of inciteful knowledge on these matters. Yes your point is there is a problem that needs to be addressed. That where your contribution become irrelevant and unfortunately naive. As a journalist use your jounalistic skills by consulting people who know. Perhaps your lack of understanding would prevent from doing justice to this topic. Your comments are technical and perhaps we could replace some technical people like you with machines of some sort. Sad to say you are very far off the mark.

We need to get rid of it as soon as possible. In a modern, 21st century state, there's just no place for such a theocratic institution.

but you made no mention whatsoever of the Karaite Rabbinate (AKA motze ha hahamin), Karaite Jews are potential and fair player after all...even the Rabbanites sages are very aware of this...

He's doing nothing but bark at you. How happy and free you'll be when he's gone - we'll be all kumbaya, eat whatever we want, sing together, mate as we want, drink, smoke and everything. Get the Dog out ! Love and freedom, your truly, the Fox.

I cannot speak for the Ashkenazi community, but the author should be mindful of the fact that Israel has a Sephardi majority and those who are observant and traditional and respectful of their Rabbi's are also a Sephardi majority. The Sephardi Chief Rabbi ie the Rshion Le Zion is a very well respected figure in the Sephardi community. This author on the other hand is not .

It is Chukat Goiym to follow other nations customs when we have our own. Chief Rabbi, is not Cohen Hagadol. He is not the Rav Rashi in Baghdad Abolish the post.

but eating nevelut and trefut and working on Shabbat is not Hukat Goyim. If there's no Torah, your brains get completely distorted and illogical, just like Nechamas.

And again and again. The Rabbinate is unnecessary.

to unite all the Jews,might be the perfect State Rabbi.

Several years ago a cousin of mine died of acute nepotism.

"Not since Rabbi Kook..."? Unfortunately he was as, if not more divisive than any Chief Rabbi since. So perhaps idealising the past a bit too much. Secondly one needs to distinguish between the Rabbinate and the Chief Rabbi. The Chief Rabbi, all over the world, has been a Political leader rather than a halachic decider. Although there have been exceptions- Rav Herzog, Unterman, Kook etc. this is definitely true of the most recent appointments internationally. The Rabbinate is more problematic and there I think you have a point- distorted and angry point- but a point none the less.

nized religion. Getting rid of it in the name of reason & righteousness is like getting rid of the butcher in order to get better steak....(???!!)

Unfortunately, the Rabbinate has become one of the greatest enemies of the Jewish People. Remember the axiom? "Power corrupts and total power corrupts totally." The Rabbinate is responsible for the greates divisions among the Jewish People. Instead of interpreting the law as it was intended, they add their own interpretations, additional stringencies, with the final result being no where near the spirit of the law. Take a case in point where a Jewish woman wants to divorce an unfaithful husband and is told by a religious court lawyer: "Go to the family court, not the rabinical court. The Rabbinal Courts are all corrupt."

Rabbi s of today are a disgrace to Judaism. Elitist, divisive, sometimes ignorant hypocrites. They teach Zacharia and worship Mammon. Abolish the posts, till we grow a Rabbi who commands respect of the majority in Israel.

religious and secular alike. Let's do it!!!

We should close the Knesset due to its spreading nepotism and bureaucratic filth. Let us close Egged since they cause air pollution and traffic jams. Let us close police stations since they are responsible for more shootings than anyone outside of the army. Ynet, how about closing off this dumb article before we call for the closure of all schools for they seem to produce weak minds like this author! This article is disgusting and insulting!

Rabbis have sovereign duties, like marriage registry...., divorces, other issues, which are handled at the rabbinical courts..... All this is somewhat special in the Jewish society. In conjunction with the circumstance, that Israel has no constitution and the rabbinate has no internal revision, all this ferments to a evil-smelling broth. All these mechanisms cannot be compensated by the other institutions, like the police, the judiciary, etc. I have some understanding, that Israel has only a few constitutional laws but it is just overdue, that Israel defines its institutions and their competences. I strongly believe, that this would be the key to a more cohesive development of the many factions inside the Israeli people. It cannot be that the chief rabbis totally invent their competences and duties on their own. There are issues, that cannot be handled by personal gusto. The chief rabbis must integrate but if I look at chief rabbi Yosef Ovadia I more and more get the impression, that he is not here for all Jews.

unfortunately, the chief rabbinate perpetuates an institution imposed on judaism by european monarchs, for the sake of controlling the jews, and not for the benefit of the jews. a real chief rabbi, who functions as a halakhic authority, and not as a symbol of corruption and political expediency, would be a good thing for judaism. but the current rabbinate, which is absurdly anti-zionist, and engages in lashon hara and other forms of hilul hashem, needs to be disbanded or dramatically reformed, not funded by a state which it doesn't believe in.

not spiritual and therefore irrelevant. did you buy a new tallet to walk around the kotel?

Perhaps Rabbi David Stav can redeem the office in the spirit of RAv Kook

The Chief Rabbi is suspect of a host of financial crimes and even reports of sexual molestation. The Chief Rabbinate supposed to be the watchdogs of morality according to Jewish Law. It is not that at all but a shelter for rabbinical cartels involved in nepotism and decisions that are technical and devoid of any humaneness. This has always been the case in the past and there are no signs that it will change in the future. Those who reach the corridors of power like the Chief Rabbi of Israel have their fingers in the finances of the various institutions under the Chief Rabbinate umbrella. They are tempted to do "unkosher" things in order to enrich themselves. They are beyond the law, not to mention many decisions made that cause great pain to those whose Jewishness is under question. They do not represent all Jews only observant Orthodox Establishment Jewry. They do not recognise pluralism in Judaism such as the Conservative and Reform streams.They have driven many Jews from religion by their pitiful example of sanctimoniousness. This organization of cronies, pseudo-religious technocratic rabbinical humbugs must go - the sooner - the better for Am Yisrael. Halacha has no human face today no matter who interprets it in the Orthodox Establishment - liberal or not.

In addition the farce over the candidacy of Rabbi Stav, the verbal and physical attacks on him are just another example of what is at stake . MONEY + POWER that is all.

You don't throw away offices and public services just because they're not functioning as one wishes. If orderly management was a prerequisite, all gov't ministries would have to be closed. The Chief Rabbinate needs to lose it's political aspects and downsize a load.

Complete and utter waste of tax payers money. If these clowns are looking for titles ,let them fund it themselves.

Sorry last time checked LA is in the US, You are not an Israeli citizen so i suggest you concern yourself with issues as shopping on Rodeo Drive as Israeli politics are none of your bussiness.