Ynet: A proposal to establish a memorial fasting day in remembrance of the synagogues in the evacuated Gush Katif was delivered to Israeli Chief Rabbinate,? Ynet has learned. The proposal was submitted by Gush Katif rabbis with support of a few rabbis at the Yesha Council.The proposal was already presented to some senior rabbis in Israel, among them Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu and Chief Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger. The initiators suggested holding a special public soul-search and prayers in synagogues and schools.

The suggestion is about to be presented to leaders of the religious factions in Israel, among them Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and Shas’ spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

The Chief Rabbinate already said in response that the issue will be discussed during the next meeting of the Chief Rabbinate Executive Council. However, officials at the Rabbinate are concerned.

“Setting a memorial date for such events, painful as they are, will constitute a problematic precedence,” they said.

Rabbi Elnekaveh told Ynet that the proposal already enjoys broad public support. He explained that its purpose is to “Immortalize the synagogues’ torching in Gush Katif on the eighth day of Elul, in order to remember the destruction, devastation, and brutality in which the synagogues, sacred to all Jews, have been torched.”

The rabbi added: “There is no Jew who was not shocked while watching those images when synagogues were burned. It was like ‘Kristallnacht’.”