Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu on erev Shabbos parshas Vayakel reportedly contacted Jerusalem Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar Shlita to meet with the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel. Clearly this meeting is requested to deal with the egalitarian prayer area given to the Reform Movement. Rabbi Amar has come out strongly against the cabinet decision to permit the area with prayer services without a mechitzah and to permit women to wear tallis and tefilin.

The call was likely timed ahead of Rav Amar releasing a psak din against the egalitarian area, a psak din also signed by Sephardi gedolim including Rabbi Shimon Ba’adani Shlita, Rabbi Meir Mazuz Shlita, Rabbi Moshe Tzadka Shlita, Rabbi Tzion Boaron Shlita, and Rabbi Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron Shlita.

The psak din cites the unprecedented severity of the cabinet decision, the “Chilul Hamikdash” and trampling of the way of the previous generations towards R”L eradicating frum Yiddishkheit.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)