By COLlive reporter
Isaac Herzog, chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, was elected on Wednesday to serve as the 11th president of the State of Israel.
Herzog, known by his nickname “Bougie”, is the son of Chaim Herzog, who served as the Sixth President of Israel from 1983 to 1993, and is the grandson of Rabbi Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog, Chief Rabbi of Ireland (1922-1935) and Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel (1936-1959).
A lawyer by profession, he served as chairman of the Labor Party and the Zionist Union alliance between 2013 and 2017, and held several ministerial posts between 2005 and 2011, including Minister of Welfare and Social Services (2007–11).
Despite running against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the 2015 elections, Netanyahu allowed members of his Likud to choose whether to vote for Herzog or Israel Prize-winning educator Miriam Peretz.
Herzog received 87 votes in the Knesset. Current president, Reuven Rivlin, is ending his seven years in office on July 9 and is not eligible to run again.
Soft-spoken, Herzog holds close connections with many Chabad officials as he toured Jewish communities around the world. He has often praised Chabad’s work and participated in the International Kinus Hashluchim convention in New York, along with praying at the Rebbe’s Ohel in Queens.
VIDEO:
Herzog attending the International Conference of Shluchim
Let’s be careful to remember that the Rebbe never referred to Israel as “the state of Israel” but “the land of Israel”