Kinar Hotel officials in Tiveria admit their error was a major one, promising to exercise better judgment in the future. They are referring to an event which was hosted in the hotel last week, on Monday night, when tens of buses carrying Christian participants in a conference arrived at the hotel. A number of chareidi guests in the hotel decided to see for themselves what exactly so many Christians were doing in the hotel and to their shock and dismay, they witnessed a Christian missionary event hosted on the hotel grounds. There was even talk of baptizing Jews who took part in the event which was held on a private beach of the hotel.
When approached by the frum guests, hotel officials stated they are not aware of the content of the program. According to the guests who made Yad L’Achim aware of the event, the hotel officials attempted to play down what was taking place, scoffing at the guests’ concerns.
It should be pointed out for those unfamiliar that the hotel is a popular site for the Shomer Shabbos community.
The story made its way to Kol Chai Radio, and the program hosted by Mordechai Lavi hosted one of the chareidi guests, as well as hotel general-manage Achikam Ramot, who tried to once again play down the severity of the event.
HaGaon HaRav Sholom Lifshitz, who heads Yad L’Achim, was next on the program, and he detailed the seriousness of what occurred in the Kinar that night.
Acting on the radio host’s advice, Ramot apologized to the chareidi public on the air. He stated the hotel was not aware of the agenda of the large group. He also agreed to remain in touch with Rav Lifshitz and to become more aware of the warning signs and missionary activities in the northern area.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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2 Responses
every hotel manager has the responsibility of assuring the quantity and quality of their guests. especially when large groups are involved.there is no excuse for this hotel to bring in these missionay christions where frum jews are regulars. its a chillul hashem and a affront to its regular guests . they , the hotel ,have a lot of explaining to make!
This hotel claims to be there to serve the Haredi public and attracts many Haredi events. However this is not the first time they have hosted missionaries. We were there for Shabbos just under two years ago when, about an hour and a half after Shabbos came in, the hotel checked in a group of missionaries on Shabbos. They were allowed to eat with everyone else in the main dining room showing off their crosses etc. After the seuda a couple of them started engaging one of my younger kids in conversation about oisoi ish. His english is not that great and he didn’t really understand but one of my older kids did. He told the missionary in very plain terms: if any of his group spoke to anyone else, they would be picked up and thrown out. Needless to say they backed off. When after Shabbos we complained to the hotel both about the chillul Shabbos and the type of group, we were told that the workers who checked them in were non Jews and that business is business, the hotel cannot legally turn any group away and that it needs their business to survive and that all hotels ‘do this’. I called another glatt hotel [Nir Etzion] and was told that they never take in guests on Shabbos or allow missioanry groups into their hotel. Kinar should be boycotted.