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29 Sivan 5761 - June 20, 2001 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
HaRav Yosef Sitruk Reelected Chief Rabbi of France
by Yated Ne'eman Staff

The offices of the Jewish Kehilla of France announced that this past Sunday (26 Sivan), 56 year-old HaRav Yosef Sitruk was reelected the Chief Rabbi of France by the General Central Assembly of the Jewish Kehilla, for a third seven- year term. HaRav Sitruk received 172 votes, compared to the 82 votes received by the other candidate, HaRav Mordechai Ben Shoshan, the 46 year-old rav of the city of Nice. Seven white ballots were cast.

The Chief Rabbi of France is the official spiritual authority of French Jewry and the Jewish religion's representative to the French government. He was elected by General Central Assembly of the Jewish Kehilla, which is composed of representatives of 232 local communities and of a congress of rabbis, whose number was increased from 10 to 17 at Rav Sitruk's request.

HaRav Sitruk was born in Tunis the capital of Tunisia in north Africa and he has been serving as the Chief Rabbi of France since 1987. He is an Orthodox Jew, who fights against assimilation and is very popular with religious Jews who constitute a fifth of the Jewish community of France, which currently numbers some 700,000.

He announced that he will be active on behalf of Israel, and said: "I intend to double and triple the number of yeshiva students in France and to establish a network of `twin communities' between the small communities and the larger ones, mainly in order to enable the younger generation to found genuine Jewish homes."

Rabbi Sitruk also said he will seek to prevent the holding of examinations in schools and universities on Shabbosim and holidays, something which is very detrimental to religious Jewish students.

 

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