Feminist provocation
Feminist provocationFlash 90

Hundreds of rabbis from all walks of life are expected to meet Thursday in Jerusalem for a joint unity conference ahead of Jerusalem Day.

The conference will be held on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the establishment of the State and the anniversary of the liberation of Jerusalem under the leadership of the most venerable religious Zionist rabbis today.

However, Arutz Sheva has learned that feminist and reformist organizations are preparing to disrupt the conference through fictitious registration and plans to disrupt its proceeding.

Some operatives even reported in social networking groups they were able to register for the conference by fooling the automatic registration system. This and other indicators lead conference organizers to expect possible provocations disrupting the assembly.

However, the Organizing Committee stresses the conference will be held as planned according to the published schedule.

In an interview with Arutz Sheva ahead of the conference, Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, Rosh Yeshiva of Bet El Yeshiva and one of the initiators of the conference, explained his goal: "The entire purpose of this conference is to give thanks. To give thanks is not just to thank personally. The mitzva of giving thanks to G-d is that anyone to whom a miracle has happened praises G-d publicly, in synagogue, and not alone. The mitzva of thanksgiving is in public, and the larger the public, the greater honor it brings G-d, and this is the purpose of the conference.

"Our sages speak a great deal about the value of unity: The people of Israel are one People and a group is a different category than an individual. 'A fast that does not include the sinners of Israel isn't a fast'; why are the sinners of Israel included? If one member of the public is missing, be he righteous, intermediate, or wicked, it's not a public fast but a fast of individuals, and just as there's a need to unite in times of trouble, when the entire public gathers, so too on days of thanksgiving. When one needs to thank G-d, one should offer thanks among as many people as possible."

Rabbi Melamed was asked if it is indeed possible to unite all the rabbis of religious Zionism despite differences of opinion and a multiplicity of sub-sectors, and he replied in the affirmative: "That's what should be. All of us are together in looking at the goodness G-d has done for us. This is religious Zionism with all its shades and sub-shades. All of them share the same opinion that we came to the Land of Israel in the course of salvation, repentance, and redemption, and the magnitude of the thanksgiving grows the more people participate in it, and the religious Zionist leaders must be the spearheads for attracting all shades."