In a victory for the Shas party, HaRav Avraham Deri, the nephew of Shas leader Aryeh Deri, was elected as the Chief Rabbi of Be’er Sheva on Sunday.

Rav Deri, narrowly elected by just one vote after a tense race against the candidate backed by the mayor of Be’er Sheva, will fill the place of his father, HaGaon HaRav Yehuda Deri, z’tl, who served as the Rav of Be’er Sheva for decades before his petirah in 2024.

HaRav Deri received 26 votes, and the Dati Leumi candidate, Rav Yoram Cohen, who was supported by Mayor Rubik Danilovich, received 25 votes. Another candidate, Rav Gad Revach, who was supported by Degal HaTorah, received only two votes. One ballot envelope was found empty.

Rav Deri was supported by Gedolei Yisrael, led by HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Yosef, who had already announced his support for Rav Avraham at Rav Yehuda’s levaya. “I know that the niftar’s wish was that his son fill his position,” HaRav Yosef said at the time. “We’re appointing him now, and no one dare violate this, chas v’shalom. The mayor is here, and he hears this. He should hurry to carry it out so that the niftar will have nachas ruach.”

HaGaon HaRav Moshe Tzadka, the Rosh Yeshivah of Porat Yosef, said at the levaya, “Certainly his son Rav Avraham, a chashuve talmid chacham, will fill his place b’ezrat Hashem.”

(YWN Israel Desk—Jerusalem)