Judaism
Chief rabbinates.
The existence of the offices of chief rabbi in the State of
Israel derives from the situation in the Turkish Empire when
the various religious communities functioned as quasi-political
entities in that multiethnic conglomerate. Israel has two chief
rabbis, one for the Ashkenazic (European) and one for the Sefardic
(Oriental) communities--they no longer function, however, as
the heads of whole communities but only of ecclesiastical organizations.
The same is true in those countries outside Israel that have
the office of chief rabbi; e.g., Great Britain and France.
Here they function vis à vis the governments like their
ecclesiastic counterparts in the Christian churches. While they
have certain kinds of limited authority because of their official
position, their jurisdiction extends only over those members
of the total Jewish community who are ready to accept it; others
form their own ecclesiastical units and act without reference
to the chief rabbinate. In some situations, particularly in
the United States where there is no similar structure, the title
chief or grand rabbi has been assumed occasionally by individuals
as the means of asserting superior dignity or even (fruitlessly)
authority.
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