Chairman of the Yesha rabbinical council forbids renting houses, employing Arabs

Wednesday March 19, 2008 21:14 by Saed Bannoura - IMEMC & Agencies

Israeli sources reported on Wednesday that the Chairman of the Yeshai rabbinical council, chief Rabbi at the Keryat Arba’ Israeli settlement in the Palestinian city of Hebron, Lior Dov, issued a religious ruling (Halakhic) forbidding Jews from renting houses to Arabs or employing them.

Rabi Lior Dov

Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that Dov stated in an interview with Eretz Israel Shelano (Our Land of Israel) that it is totally forbidden to employ Arabs or rent houses to them as “this issue endangers the souls”. The paper will be distributed this coming Saturday in various synagogues.

He added that employing Arabs is forbidding “not only in Yeshivas but also in hotels, factories and all other places”.

Lior also backed a decision made by the administration of the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem to bar the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, from visiting the Yeshiva after it was attacked by an Arab resident two weeks ago.

He added that the Yeshivas cannot welcome a man “who acts against the holy Torah and continues to lead the Israelis into greater danger, Haaretz reported.

 He also slammed the positions of several rabbis who refused to obey an order made by Rabi Abraham Shapira in 2005 who instructed the Israeli soldiers to reject the implementation of the Disengagement Plan.

 Haaretz added that several Rabbis, headed by Lior, have recently issued a halakhic ruling allowing the Israelis to open fire at Palestinian civilian areas from whence attacks against Israeli settlements originate.

 Meanwhile, Israeli attorney, Einat Horvitz, member of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, said that the center views with deep concern the repeated calls against Arabs since the Jerusalem attack was carried out.

He added that such incitement violates the essence of Judaism and is illegal. Moreover, Horvitz calls on the Israeli attorney general to enforce laws that prohibit such calls.

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