MK (Yesh Atid) Elazar Stern launched an attack against Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita, calling him “Deri’s marionette”. Minister of Tourism (Likud) Yariv Levin demanded Stern take back his harsh accusation.
There was much shouting in the Knesset plenum session surrounding Stern’s words, as Stern attacked not only Rav Yosef but the chareidi MKs as well. His remarks surrounded their staunch opposition to private giyur.
To his credit, Levin explained “The Chief Rabbi is not present and therefore, he cannot defend himself against your accusations in the face of the wild and unbridled attack. There is a huge public in Israel, an absolute majority, which respects the Chief Rabbis also respects the institution of the Rabbinate”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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3 Responses
Why is such diatribe allowed altogether? Disgraceful
Respect for the “Chief Rabbinate” has been on the decline for years, primarily because the incumbents and their predecessors have been selected for political reasons and function politically (as surrogates for various segments of the coalition or opposition). The fact that certain Chief Rabbonim over the past decade have also been prone to inflammatory remarks about individual and social groups within EY has further resulted in their loss of respect and credibility. Perhaps its time to reconsider the need for a “Chief Rabbinate”. EY could get along just fine without a rabbanut.
Why is it that we never hear any of these MK’s actually do anything constructive? Rather all we hear is when they attack each other.
The first law that should be passed is that minors cannot be members of the government…