President Moshe Katzav, in an address to an organization dedicated to increasing ties between religious and non-observant, bemoaned the fact that, “Secular Jews today are deprived, from birth, the right to choose a religious lifestyle.”
Katzav made his statements during a speech given at a reception for Yachad (‘Together’), an organization that encourages dialogue and relations between Hareidi-religious, National-religious, and non-observant Jews in Israel.
“The religious Jew is able to choose between the religious lifestyle and secularism, the secular Jew is unable to choose because he offered only no alternative,” lamented Katzav. The President said that furthermore, he holds “in high regard, many Jews who respect the feelings of Christians and Muslims,” but attacked the fact that, “many aren’t willing to consider the feelings of their own fellow Jews.”
Justice Minister, Shinui chief, Yosef Lapid, responded to Katzav’s remarks: “I’m sorry to say this, but it seems that [rather than it being the secular Jews who are disconnected from the freedom to embrace religion] the President himself is the one who is disconnected from the vast secular majority, who he is supposed to represent.”
In an interview with IDF Radio this morning, Katzav explained the purpose of his statements. “I believe that we need to provide every person with free choice. Free choice is not only a matter of allowing him to choose his direction, but also providing freedom of information to facilitate that choice. It is the freedom to receive information about all religious paths so that it is possible to consciously choose between them.
“If someone is raised in the State of Israel, from the 1st grade until university, and is never taught the rudimentary basics of Talmud, I think this is indicative of a serious problem in our educational system. That is what I wanted fixed.”
Katzav made his statements during a speech given at a reception for Yachad (‘Together’), an organization that encourages dialogue and relations between Hareidi-religious, National-religious, and non-observant Jews in Israel.
“The religious Jew is able to choose between the religious lifestyle and secularism, the secular Jew is unable to choose because he offered only no alternative,” lamented Katzav. The President said that furthermore, he holds “in high regard, many Jews who respect the feelings of Christians and Muslims,” but attacked the fact that, “many aren’t willing to consider the feelings of their own fellow Jews.”
Justice Minister, Shinui chief, Yosef Lapid, responded to Katzav’s remarks: “I’m sorry to say this, but it seems that [rather than it being the secular Jews who are disconnected from the freedom to embrace religion] the President himself is the one who is disconnected from the vast secular majority, who he is supposed to represent.”
In an interview with IDF Radio this morning, Katzav explained the purpose of his statements. “I believe that we need to provide every person with free choice. Free choice is not only a matter of allowing him to choose his direction, but also providing freedom of information to facilitate that choice. It is the freedom to receive information about all religious paths so that it is possible to consciously choose between them.
“If someone is raised in the State of Israel, from the 1st grade until university, and is never taught the rudimentary basics of Talmud, I think this is indicative of a serious problem in our educational system. That is what I wanted fixed.”