Elections for the Chief Rabbinate, which were due to be held in August, have been postponed until after the municipal elections on October 31, Religious Services Minister Michael Malchieli said.

Malchieli announced the postponement in a letter his office sent Thursday to Carmit Yulis, the deputy attorney general for civil affairs. He cited concerns the municipal voting could interfere with the rabbinical elections, in which a council of 150 people — most of them rabbis affiliated with local offices of the rabbinate and their employees — select an Ashkenazi and a Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel.

They also pick the Chief Rabbinate Council, which the chief rabbis head.

The elections to the rabbinate have been postponed in the past by several months, most recently in 2013, due to various circumstances.... Read More: Times of Israel