http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/170267#.UfE4vm1jHAsFinance Minister Yair Lapid posted his response to Wednesday’s election of two new Chief Rabbis on Facebook on Thursday morning.
“The elections for the Chief Rabbinate are over. The institute that was irrelevant before many Israelis were born or formed their worldviews will remain so for the next ten years,” he wrote.
“Whoever wants to use the Rabbinate’s services – that is, of course, his right,” Lapid continued. “But it cannot be that they will have no alternative.”
“The time has come for civil marriage, with a solution for the gay, lesbian and transgender communities as well,” Lapid argued, “and for those who are not Jewish, and for all those wonderful Israelis who just want to get married without the religious establishment intervening.”
He concluded with a commitment to continue his struggle for civil marriage and for making the Reform movement equivalent to orthodox Judaism in terms of state support.
“It will be a dirty political battle, and maybe a long one, but we will fight for this like Yesh Atid fights for everything: without giving up, without taking our eyes off the goal, until it happens,” he declared.
Topic: Yair Lapid is pushing for gay marriage & freedom from religion (Read 449 times)