A meeting was held between senior Israel Police rabbonim, Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi David Lau and the Archbishop serving in Haifa. The church planned a Christian march event on Yom Kippur. Mayor Yonah Yahav called on residents to exhibit religious tolerance and respect. However, Chief Rabbi Lau and the police rabbonim felt one can be respectful and request canceling the public event set for the holiest day on the Jewish calendar.
Israel Police Chief Rabbi of the Northern District Rabbi Anshel Friedman initiated the move to approach the senior Christian clergyman, for he feels holding a Catholic march in the city on Yom Kippur was not an ideal situation. He and Israel Police Chief Rabbi Moshe Gafne contacted Rav Lau and they met on Thursday morning, 8 Tishrei5774 with the archbishop.
The rabbinical delegation arrived at the home of the archbishop in the Geffen neighborhood of Haifa. The church official informed the rabbis that their request has been accepted and notification was being made to all churches that the planned event will not be held to avoid offending the religious sensibilities of the Jewish community.
Ladaat has photos – http://ladaat.info/article.aspx?artid=7728
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
I wish i understood this… why is this any bigger of a problem to have on YK then on Tu beshvat. If we want to preserve and respect the kedusha of eretz yisroel, why doesnt it bother us to have this event at any time. If we are saying this is a Jewish country therefore respect our laws and traditions then why only on YK. its ludicrous. imho
Israel is only Jewish on papers. However when it comes to Jewish religion government not always tries to be Jewish.
I deeply respect them for complying. We could a thing or two from them about respect and sensitivity.
Kok hakovod to the Archbishop for showing such sensitivity to yidden in Haifa and rescheduling their simcha. Hopefully, the rabbonim in Haifa will do likewise when asked by the Archbishop if one of our simchas or “yom toivim” come out on X’mas or Easter
It’s so that Jewish cops don’t need to police cristian events on yom kippur