Kfar Chabad Rabbi Blasts Political Leaders Attending Local Second Hakafos: ‘Desecration Of G-d’s Name’

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — Rabbi Meir Ashkenazi, the rabbi of Kfar Chabad, sent a sharp protest to the organizers of the local second Hakafos, stating that he was “disgusted” at what had occurred there.

During the course of the Hakafos numerous political leaders, including Binyamin Netanyahu, Benny Gantz and Gidon Sa’ar who lead secular lifestyles, were invited on stage and even held Sifrei Torah.

Rabbi Ashkenazi criticized the nature of the gathering, which did not have proper separation between men and women, as well as the invitation to political leaders to speak on stage.

“I have come to express my protest and disgust at what occurred at the second Hakafos at Kfar Chabad. A holy event with a decades-old tradition of pure rejoicing with Sifrei Torah, whose goal is to enable visitors to taste the special chasidic atmosphere of Kfar Chabad, turned into an event of singing and dancing without a separate place for women, heaven forfend!

“Can one sing and dance with Sifrei Torah and say verses from Torah when the most basic halachos are being violated?”, Rabbi Ashkenazi wrote. “There is no greater desecration of G-d’s name and no greater insult to our leaders who established the

He added that Chabad had always followed the rebbe’s imperative not to be involved in politics and certainly did not permit them to speak publicly in Kfar Chabad during election periods.

Rabbi Ashkenazi added that the event harmed the Chabad emissaries in various locations who try to organize events with separation of genders, and harmed the Chabad movement in general whose goal is to disseminate Torah and chasidus without political affiliation.