From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, October 9, 2024
Lapid calls on activists to respect court ruling, not protest gender-separated Yom Kippur prayer
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleSam Sokol is a former political correspondent at The Times of Israel. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Following the High Court of Justice’s ruling requiring the Tel Aviv Municipality to allow an Orthodox organization to hold public gender-separated prayers on Yom Kippur, Opposition Leader Yair Lapid calls on the “liberal public” to refrain from giving those organizing the services “the quarrel they want.”
“Don’t go and protest because that’s what they’re looking for. It’s better to ignore them,” he states, adding: “We will go to joint ceremonies of a tolerant, welcoming Judaism that respects the true tradition of Israel.”
Lapid’s comment contrasts sharply with that of Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu, who tweets that the ruling represents “the victory of traditionalism over progressiveness.”
“To those who feared that prayer in Dizengoff Square would harm the ‘character of the city’, I say — on the contrary, it will enrich it. Tel Aviv is not only a city of parties, it is also a city of Judaism and light,” Eliyahu writes.
The Times of Israel Community.