There is growing fear that the anti-religious ferment in Israel reflected in the recent startling electoral victory of Tommy Lapid’s Shinui Party also spawned the horrific arson burning of five Sifrei Torah. Police are still investigating the cause of the fire, but arson seems certain. Although news coverage of the incident has been sparse, reports that have appeared have hinted that the perpetrators were not Arab terrorists, but rather anti-religious Jewish Israelis.
As reported in Arutz Sheva the other day, 50,000 people took part in a funeral for the five Torah scrolls. The remnants were taken in a ZAKA ambulance to the Ponevezh cemetery in Bnei Brak and buried there.
One spokesman reportedly told Arutz Sheva that “there is no question that the atmosphere of scorn for the Torah that is so prevalent in some circles is what allows this kind of horrendous act to happen.” It would appear that those who are in the forefront of the so-called “secular revolution” have a special responsibility to weigh the possible consequences of some of their exhortations.
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