Watch the documentary: An award from the Chief Rabbis, Rabbi Yosef and Gersham Amar

April 20, 2014   

President Shimon Peres held holiday visits this morning, the seventh evening of Passover, at the home of the late Rabbi Yosef, and then at the home of the late Rabbi Amar in Givat Hambatar.

The President was accompanied on his visits by the Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Holy Places, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz.

The Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Lau, is staying in the north, and therefore the President was unable to visit his home for the holiday.

Shas Chairman MK Aryeh Deri also participated in the visit to Rabbi Yosef's home.

The visit to Rabbi Amar's home was closed to the media. Among the participants, besides the president, were public figures. According to Peres' associates, the president greatly appreciates Rabbi Amar and has worked to spread the Torah throughout the country, and maintains contact with him.

During the President's meeting with Rabbi Yosef, which lasted over an hour, the Chief Rabbi said to the President: "Mr. President, for decades you have been accustomed to visiting Maran Ha-Ba on Jewish holidays. We all miss him today, but we both managed to make him happy when you made an effort, honored his personal invitation to you, and came to our coronation in the Jewish Quarter, which was also on his birthday. Who knew then that this would be the last public event he would participate in, how happy he was then. ""We need your help. It is well known and famous to all, and you have also expressed it more than once, in favor of preserving the Jewish identity of the state. In this, you are continuing the path of Ben-Gurion, who, although we had disagreements with him, was a wise Jew and in the establishment of the state he understood that without preserving the status quo, a united Jewish state could not exist. "כעת אנחנו נאלצים להתמודד עם גל חקיקה בנושאי דת ומדינה חקיקה שטרם נראה כמותו. אנחנו צריכים את עזרתך בנושא הזה. הולכים לחוקק חוק גיור שמאיים על המשך זהותה היהודית של המדינה.  אסור שיעברו חוקים כאלה בלי הסכמה רחבה, לא יתכן שניאלץ להגיע בסוף למצב שכל קהילה תנהל לעצמה ספרי יוחסין כשאחד לא יכיר ביהדותו של רעהו. רק אמירה ברורה שחוקים כאלה מוכרחים לעבור בהסכמה רחבה תמנע את האסון הזה. זה חשוב לנו, זה חשוב לך, זה חשוב למדינה. "אדוני הנשיא אתה הדמות היחידה הימים אלה שיכולה לאחד את העם עשה כל שביכולתך למנוע פילוג בעם".