In an impressive ceremony at Heichal Shlomo, headquarters of the Chief Rabbinate here, Rabbi Isser Yehuda Unterman was installed today as the new Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel. He filled the post which has remained vacant since the death of Chief Rabbi Isaac Halevi Herzog, in 195.
Present for the ceremony were President Zalman Shazar, Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, Cabinet Ministers, members of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, Supreme Court Justices, members of the diplomatic corps, heads of the various religious denominations, and a large gathering of guests, including many rabbis from abroad.
A fanfare was sounded as Rabbi Unterman, former Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, entered the chamber, accompanied by the Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Nissim, who continues in the post which he has held for many years. The two Chief Rabbis were preceded by uniformed aides, and were accompanied by Religious Affairs Minister Zorah Warhaftig, Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie of Britain, Supreme Court Justice M. Silberg and Jerusalem Mayor Mordechai Ish-Shalom,
In a greeting on behalf of the Government, Premier Eshkol stressed the significance of the Israeli Chief Rabbi as the rabbi of the whole Diaspora, and voiced the hope for a spirit of tolerance.
In his inaugural address, Chief Rabbi Unterman underscored the need to preserve the true spirit of Judaism in order to achieve and fulfill the lofty, age-old vision of moral wholeness. This, he said, could be achieved by common striving and by abandoning the biases which cause harmful and dangerous friction.
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