Religious Zionist movement, and Amichai Lau-Lavie, the founder and artistic director of the Jewish ritual theater company Storahtelling. Chairman of Yad Vashem In 2008, Lau was appointed chairman of Yad Vashem, succeeding Tommy Lapid. Rabbinical career Lau was ordained as a rabbi in 1961. His first rabbinic position was at the Ohr Torah synagogue in North Tel Aviv. In 1965 he was appointed as rabbi of the Tiferet Tzvi Synagogue in Tel Aviv, a position he held until 1971 when he was appointed rabbi of North Tel Aviv. In 1978, Lau was appointed as chief rabbi of the city of Netanya. In 1983 Lau was appointed to serve on the Mo'etzet of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. In 1988, after the death of his father-in-law, Lau was appointed to serve as chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, a position he held until 1993. When Lau met the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson in 1992, the Rebbe told Lau to finish his work in Tel Aviv, as he would soon be chosen to become the Chief Rabbi of Israel. In 1993, Lau was elected Chief Rabbi of Israel. He served as Chief Rabbi till 2003. On 9 June 2005, Lau was reinstalled as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv returning to the post he served from 1985 until 1993. Lau has often been characterized as the "consensus rabbi", and has close ties to both Haredi and Modern Orthodox Judaism, particularly in regard to his politics, which have been characterized as moderate Zionist.<ref>[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:kT5EC1YG-JcJ:www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite%3Fpagename%3DJPost/JPArticle/ShowFull%26cid%3D1113445111411+lau+%22israel+prize%22&hl=en&lr=lang_en&client=firefox-a Only cache available Israel Prize for 'consensus rabbi' Yisrael Lau], Jerusalem Post, 14 April 2005</ref> One report described him as "too Zionist to be considered Haredi." He is one of the few figures in the Haredi world who has managed to gain the trust and admiration of both the Sephardic and Ashkenazic population. Lau has received some negative attention for his stances and remarks on non-Orthodox denominations of Judaism. When Lau was awarded the Israel Prize in May 2005, there were protests from the Masorti and Reform movements in Israel. Non-Orthodox leaders noted that it was ironic that Lau was being honored for "bridging rifts in Israeli society". Lau's spokespeople said that the fact that he had been approved by the (presumably heterogeneous) Prize Committee spoke for itself. Interfaith work In 1993, Rav Lau had an hour-long meeting with John Paul II at the Pope's summer residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome