The cabinet is expected to back on Sunday a bill under which Israel would have only one chief rabbi, not two – one of northern European origin and one of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern origin.

Under the bill, the new chief rabbi would be selected without any reference to his ethnic origin. Currently, one chief rabbi is of northern European origin (Ashkenazi), and one of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern origin (Sephardi).

The sole chief rabbi would head the Chief Rabbinate Council. The new law would also provide a clear delineation between the Chief Rabbinate and the rabbinical courts, which would be defined as an independent judicial institution.

The bill would change the current situation under which the two chief rabbis alternate every five years, with one heading the Rabbinate Council and the other serving as chief dayan, or religious court judge, of the Higher Rabbinical Court.

The bill would see the appointment of the president and deputy president of the Higher Rabbinical Court by dayanim serving at the time of the appointment, similar to the process for appointing the president and deputy president of the Supreme Court. Today, the chief rabbi is automatically the head of the Higher Rabbinical Court, even if he does not have certification to serve as a dayan.

If the cabinet approves the bill, it will proceed to the Knesset for its first reading. Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who has been pushing the legislation, called on her cabinet colleagues to pass it.

In a country where there is only one president, one Supreme Court president, one prime minister and one IDF chief of staff, there is no justification to double the position of chief rabbi. We must end the archaic ethnic division among the people and bring people closer to together, she said.

The State of Israel deserves a single [chief] rabbi who will unify the various parts of society, who will lead a rabbinate that provides services to the entire Jewish Israeli community, with all its ethnic groups. Honoring the tradition from each of our homes does not need to be accompanied by divisiveness.