Haïm Korsia re-elected Chief Rabbi of France

Haim Korsia was reelected in the first round on Sunday in Paris, Chief Rabbi of France, for a term of seven years, the electoral commission of the Central Consistory of the Jewish Religion announced to the press.

"We must be united" and "I will work with everyone", he declared at the end of the ballot which was held at the central Israelite Consistory in Paris and which brought together 254 major voters;

representatives of communities from all regions and about 10% rabbis.

Re-election in the first round

Mr. Korsia, elected for a first term in 2014, was re-elected in the first round with 74.4% of the vote ahead of Mikaël Journo, 47, rabbi of a synagogue in the 15th arrondissement of Paris and Laurent Berros, 54, rabbi de Sarcelles, who also stood as candidates.

At 57 years old, this man, very attached to the dialogue of the Jewish community with the republican institutions and the other religions, is renewed in what is the highest Jewish religious authority of France.

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First rabbi of Reims, he became from 2000 Israelite chaplain general of the air force, then assumed this same responsibility at the head of all the armies from 2007 to 2014. On the doctrinal level, Haïm Korsia is on the line of the Consistory, the majority in France, conforming to "Halakha", Jewish law, but it appears to be an openness compared to its competitors.

The Consistory, set up by Napoleon in 1808 to represent the Jews of France, no longer federates them all, the liberal and Masorti currents judging that it remains on an overly strict observance of Jewish law.

He says he represents a little less than 400 synagogues, or a little more than three quarters in France.

The French Jewish community is the largest in Europe with around 500,000 people.