Opposition Leader Yair Lapid (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
The Torah study was dedicated to the memories of fallen soldiers and victims of terror, the recovery of those injured and unity in Israel.
By Vered Weiss, World Israel News
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid declined an invitation to a Hoshana Rabbah Torah study session hosted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Knesset sukkah Thursday, saying the invitation arrived too late for him to attend and publicly criticizing its timing.
Lapid said Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana contacted him only hours before the event.
“The Knesset Speaker sent me a WhatsApp message at 1:42 p.m. with an invitation to a Torah study event in the Sukkah this evening,” Lapid wrote on X.
Lapid suggested two explanations for the short notice and questioned whether organizers expected him to participate.
“Two possibilities: 1. they didn’t know ahead of time that tonight is Hoshana Rabbah, and they were shocked to discover it suddenly on the calendar. 2. They intentionally sent it so late so I wouldn’t be able to come, and they can say that I refused to go to a Torah study event.”
Lapid ended his post by citing a verse from Psalms.
“In any case, since I can’t come on such short notice, I will remind them that on Hoshana Rabbah night there is a custom to read Psalms, and I recommend they delve into the verse: ‘O Lord, save my soul from false lips, from a deceitful tongue. (Psalms 120:2).”
Netanyahu hosted the “heroism-themed” Torah study session Thursday to mark Hoshana Rabbah, the final day of Sukkot, which is regarded as an important judgment day.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Mossad Director Roman Goffman, Shin Bet Director David Zini, National Security Council Chief Shmuel Ben-Ezra, Police Commissioner Danny Levy and Atomic Energy Council Chief Moshe Edri were expected to attend, along with Ohana.
Invitations were also extended to students from the Tabor military preparatory academy, wives of IDF reservists and wounded veterans.
The Torah study was dedicated to the memories of fallen soldiers and victims of terror, the recovery of those injured and unity in Israel.
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