Hundreds of Lubavitcher took to the streets Tuesday to help their fellow Jews put on Tefillin in protest of proposed legislation that would criminalize bringing Jewish youth closer to yiddishkeit.
By Anash.org reporter
Photos: Dov Ber Hechtman
Hundreds of Lubavitcher took to the streets Tuesday to help their fellow Jews put on Tefillin in protest of proposed legislation that would make it illegal to offer a minor to perform a mitzvah, such as putting on tefillin, punishable by up to six months in prison.
As reported yesterday on Anash.org, Knesset Member Tamar Zandberg, who is widely expected to serve as a minister in Israel’s new government, is advancing a bill that would criminalize bringing Jewish youth closer to yiddishkeit.
According to the proposed, “Anyone who persuades a minor to do teshuvah or take another action, directly or indirectly, which may bring about the teshuvah of a minor without the presence and approval of his parents… will receive six months’ imprisonment; for the purposes of this section, ‘teshuvah’ is a transformation from a secular to a religious person.”
The proposed legislation has caused an uproar in Israel, with many Israelis taking to social media to post pictures of themselves wearing tefillin.
Liav Nachmani, a correspondent for Yisrael Hayom who was covering a soccer match at the Sammy Ofer Stadium in Haifa said he never saw a longer line at the stadium’s Tefillin stand.
“The line at the Chabad tefillin stand outside the Sami Ofer Stadium has never been longer. Dozens of Haifa fans are patiently standing in line,” he wrote to his thousands of Twitter followers.
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