Jerusalem Bans Emanuel Bar Mitzvah Party

[Dan]

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s son Zach will celebrate his Bar Mitzvah Sunday near the Western Wall but without catering or music. Jerusalem officials accepted a complaint from nationalist activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who pointed out that the law forbids food and music at the Davidson Center, adjacent to the Western Wall

A Jerusalem court judge has ordered Ben-Gvir and activist Baruch Marzel to remain at least 1,500 feet from Emanuel and his delegation.

Zach Emanuel is celebrating his Bar Mitzvah there Sunday morning, even though it is a day when the Torah is not read. Bar Mitzvahs generally are held on Mondays and Thursdays, or on the Sabbath, when verses of the Torah are recited during morning prayers.

Emanuel’s divergence from traditional Jewish custom is not the only exception he has made during his trip, although he often is described as “Orthodox.” He ate non-kosher food in Eilat last week and brought his family to an “alternative Orthodox” synagogue in the Germany Colony in Jerusalem Friday night.

Foreign and local media have quietly avoided noting that the Davidson Center where Zach Emanuel's Bar Mitzvah is being held is located in an area that the United States does not recognize as being under Israeli sovereignty.

The senior Emanuel is considered the man behind U.S. President Barack Obama’s “tough love” policy that has included labeling Jewish neighborhoods near the Western Wall as ”settlements.”  (IsraelNationalNews.com

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/137754