Gilad Shalit Shouldn’t Go to Beach: Lawmaker
A lawmaker from the haredi Orthodox Shas Party said Gilad Shalit should have spent his first Shabbat of freedom not at the beach but praying in synagogue.
Meshulam Nahari also said during a Shas convention this week that the 25-year-old soldier should have recited the benediction of deliverance in synagogue, a Jewish prayer of thanksgiving recited when someone survives a difficult or dangerous time, Ynet reported.
Photos of Shalit at the beach were published in the Israeli daily Haaretz; a Haaretz photographer had been camping on the beach with his family when he saw the Shalits arrive early in the morning.
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has called on Nahari to help bring Shalit closer to Judaism, Nahari said according to Ynet.
Nahari invited the Shalit family to come to his home to say the benediction prayer, Ynet reported.
Shalit was freed last month in a prisoner swap for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails after spending more than five years in captivity. The Israeli media has for the most part respected the family’s wish for privacy.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
