Chabad to hold water-drawing festivities despite rabbinic ban
The Chabad movement has come under fire in posters in Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox areas for its intention to hold the “water-drawing festival” after the first day of the Sukkot holiday ends tomorrow night. The festival, recalling an ancient custom, is held every year with thousands of participants during the interim days of Sukkot. However this year, extremely strict non-Hasidic rabbis have warned against what they call the danger of “lewdness” during the festivities. They have banned all celebrations except those taking place indoors, to insure the strict separation of men and women.
This ban comes after non-Hasidic rabbis prohibited their followers from attending concerts and shows (”sing-alongs” as they called them) during the summer, even where men and women were separated. The latest ban has led the municipality of Bnai Brak, which has a large Orthodox population, to cancel its public water-drawing festivities.
The ultra-Orthodox religious court in Jerusalem has joined the ban, and also instructed any celebrations to end by 12:30 A.M. The religious court has also instructed men and women to walk on separate sides of the street to and from the celebrations.
Chabad’s decision to hold the public celebrations in its neighborhoods is seen as a challenge to the ultra-Orthodox hard-liners. Defenders of the so-called “sanctity and education guard” have pressured Chabad to cancel the festivities, but the Chabad court ruled this week that the events would take place as usual.
Members of the extremist Neturei Karta sect will reportedly hold a protest outside the Chabad neighborhood during the celebration.
A spokesman for Tzeirei Chabad, the Chabad youth organization, told Haaretz “We are not opposing the rabbis and are not holding any shows. We have brought to the attention of the Torah sages that for us this is not just a street event, but one that has gone on for years and has value. There is value in holding the events in public. It is not just for the ultra-Orthodox public, but for the wider public, and men and women will remain separate.”
source: haaretz
