Chief Rabbi Warns Netanyahu Regarding Closure of Shuls on Yom Kippur

In a conversation with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Tuesday afternoon, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Harav David Lau warned him that Israelis will not accept the order to close shuls on Yom Kippur.

Netanyahu, Health Minister Yuli Edelstein (Likud), and National Security Council chief Meir Ben-Shabbat spoke via teleconference with Chief Rabbi David Lau to discuss the possibility of closing synagogues across the country during the lockdown, including on Yom Kippur. Netanyahu asked Rabbi Lau if it would be possible and how the public would respond.

Rabbi Lau said that in the situation in which the government has failed to enforce the lockdown on other public gatherings, the public will mostly ignore orders to close shuls on Yom Kippur.

Channel 12 reported earlier that the Coronavirus Cabinet is considering closing shuls, markets for arbaah minim and mikvaos on Erev Yom Kippur.