October 28, 2012

The International Rabbinic Fellowship is heartened by the decision of the organizers of the annual commemoration ceremony in memory of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, zt”l to reach out, this year, to the leadership of the mainstream Religious-Zionist community and ask them to participate and speak at the official program of the evening.

We are equally heartened by the decision of the international head of Bnei Akiva and other religious-Zionist leaders such as Rabbi Avi Gisser, chief rabbi of Ofra, who accepted these overtures and are participating in this event. 

This move is a positive step in addressing one of the intense fissures that exists in Israeli society and bringing different groups of Israeli Jews together in a search for common ground. The ability of diverse groups to live together, yet argue respectfully, within a shared base of understanding about the ground rules of democracy, is an important element of maintaining a healthy and functioning Jewish-Democratic state in our era.