New chief rabbis were elected for Jerusalem on Tuesday.
The new incumbents took their posts after an 11-year hiatus, during which time the city's top religious posts remained vacant.
A former chief rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Amar, will serve as the new Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, and Rabbi Arye Stern, the founder and editor-in-chief of a talmudic research centre and a community rabbi in south Jerusalem, will be his Ashkenazi counterpart.
The two rabbis had been chosen as candidates by Mayor Nir Barkat and Habayit Hayehudi leader Naftali Bennett, who holds also the religious services portfolio. The politicians joined forces to ensure that the twin posts - that remained empty following the deaths of the previous incumbents - would not be occupied by candidates affiliated to the Charedi parties.
The election of 69-year-old Rabbi Stern was, in particular, a political failure for United Torah Judaism. The Charedi party's rival candidate was Rabbi Moshe Haim Lau, the brother of the current chief rabbi of Israel. He lost by 20 votes to 27.
Rabbi Amar's candidacy was supported at the last moment by Shas, despite the estrangement between the rabbi and Shas leader Arye Deri.
Rabbi Amar received 28 votes, beating the chief rabbi of Safed, Shmuel Eliyahu, who got 18. Rabbi Eliyahu was questioned by police in 2010 after he called on Jews not to let flats to Arabs.
