In Antwerp, Belgium, elections were held today for the rabbis of the ‘Shomeri Hadat’ community after a year ago they brought in Rabbi Padva for a year of probation. In the elections, the rabbi won a huge majority of votes with 388 community members supporting him in the elections and will now become the official rabbi on behalf of the state and the community. All the details in ‘in the ultra-orthodox rooms’
The ‘Shomeri Hadat’ community in Antwerp, Belgium, which received into its ranks Rabbi Pinchas Leibush Padva to fill the place of the former Rabbi David Moshe Lieberman zt’l who passed away in the month of Shabbat last year, today elected him Rabbi by an overwhelming majority. Rabbi Padva previously served in the rabbinate of Switzerland , Holland and Kiryat Gat.
According to the regulations of the community and the state, elections must be held on the nomination of the rabbi of the community, so it was decided upon his appointment that within about a year, elections would be held.
Indeed, secret elections were held today (Sunday). 461 members came to vote and the results – 5 votes abstained, 68 against and 388 supported the candidacy of Rabbi Padwa who was elected as mentioned with a huge majority.
The ‘Shomeri Hadat’ community in Antwerp, Belgium has over 3,000 members from the entire Jewish community, and at its center is the Belza Chassidism and other circles. The community has a large and well-known rabbinical system in the Jewish world, centered in Europe. Rabbis who knew Shem served in the religious community in the past.
One of the businessmen of the place tells ‘Bahaderi Haredim’: “It was a difficult year, a year of many systems in matters of kosher and more, and here is Rabbi Padwa who surprised everyone and was elected by a huge majority.”