Chief rabbinate candidate attacked at wedding

Youths shove, attempt to pour water on Rabbi Stav; Liberman: Torah against violence, incitement of one rabbi against another.

By JEREMY SHARON
Rabbi David Stav speaking at Knesset 370 (photo credit: Avi Friedman)
Rabbi David Stav speaking at Knesset 370
(photo credit: Avi Friedman)
Candidate for the chief rabbinate Rabbi David Stav was subject to physical and verbal intimidation Sunday night while attending the wedding of the daughter of Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy places.
Stav said that during the proceedings, several youths shoved him and attempted to hit him and pour water on him.
As he left the wedding, the youths also called him “an evil man” and “sheigetz,” a derogatory Yiddish term for a non-Jewish male.
The incident comes following comments made by Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef on Saturday night who called Stav “an evil man” and said that he was dangerous to Judaism and the Torah an unfitting to be chief rabbi.
Yisrael Beytenu chairman MK Avigdor Lieberman called on Monday morning for haredi and religious leaders to publicly condemn the attack on Stav.
“We expect from the religious leadership, regardless of their outlook, to unambiguously condemn, and certainly not to encourage, injury to another religious leader,” Liberman said.
“It is a shame that within a political contest, especially for the chief rabbinate, there is someone leading the public to these dark corners. There are 70 faces to the Torah and not one of them is violence and incitement of one rabbi against another.”