Rabbi Efraim Holtzberg, assistant to the Rabbi of Jerusalem’s Jewish quarter, called on the Jerusalem Municipality to end its cooperation with Christian groups, which will include a presentation of an opera by Verdi which deals with the crusades in Jerusalem.
“The rabbi [of the Jewish quarter] asked me to handle this serious matter,” Rabbi Holtzberg told Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew website on Thursday. “The city’s tourism committee approved the project to highlight the existence of the Christian side of Jerusalem for inbound tourism. They even published a Jewish-Christian calendar that mentioned Christmas alongside Chanukah and Easter alongside Passover. The resolution passed almost without opposition. It’s shocking.”
Rabbi Holtzberg expressed concern that Jews may come to these Christian events and enter a church, which is prohibited by Jewish law. “We are giving up on Jerusalem’s Jewish face,” he said. “We should not be organizing Christian prayer services in churches. I have no doubt that Jews will come to these events. There is a strict prohibition in Jewish law to enter a church and especially to participate in Christian prayer services.”