Rabbi Druckman
Rabbi DruckmanScreenshot

"Intermarriage in Israel is simply a catastrophe,” venerated Zionist rabbi, Rabbi Chaim Druckman, told Arutz Sheva Sunday, in reaction to the high profile wedding between an Arab man and a Jewish woman in Rishon Letzion.

"There is no other word for it but terrible assimilation,” he said. “It is very painful. We feel the pain of intermarriage outside of Israel, in the Diaspora. This phenomoenon inflicts a holocaust upon our nation. So when it happens in the Land of Israel, among us, will we not be pained? Will we not protest this?”

Rabbi Druckman also responded to the statement by Health Minister Yael Geman (Yesh Atid), who said that the marriage was “another step in the transformation of Israeli society into a more tolerant and pluralistic one.”

"It is no less painful to hear a minister in the Israeli government talking like that,” he said. “The pain is multiplied several times. It turns out that in the Israeli government, too, there are those who are not aware of the uniqueness of the Jewish people, and are not aware of the Nation of Israel's special identity.

“This is a most illegitimate phenomenon,” ha added, regarding the marriage in Rishon Letzion. “One must understand, even Jews who call themselves secular would not agree that their son or daughter marry a Muslim.”

Despite all of this, Rabbi Druckman repeatedly stated that there must be no violence at the protest outside the wedding hall where the marriage took place. “It is important to stress that despite the great pain, no violence of any kind may be used. Not physical violence and not the issuing of threats.”