On Facebook, Finance Minister apologizes to God for not drafting haredim yet

Yair Lapid’s post on Facebook received more than 6,000 “likes” endorsing its content.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Yair Lapid with gay flag 370 (photo credit: Yair Lapid at meeting in Knesset, 3 June 2013.)
Yair Lapid with gay flag 370
(photo credit: Yair Lapid at meeting in Knesset, 3 June 2013.)
Finance Minister Yair Lapid angered haredi Knesset members on Friday when in a letter to God he posted on his Facebook page ahead of Yom Kippur, he apologized for not yet drafting haredim, initiating civil marriage and providing public transportation on Shabbat.
Lapid’s post on Facebook received more than 6,000 “likes” endorsing its content.
“I have what to apologize for, Master of the Universe, but not for mistakes we [in Yesh Atid] made, but for what we have not yet changed,” Lapid wrote.
“As long as there is no civil marriage and public transportation on Shabbat because of people who think they speak in your name, we have what to change. As long as we have not completed the historic process of drafting haredim and enabling them to enter the workforce, we have what to change.”
Lapid also apologized to God for the peace process not yet changing reality and for several problems he had not yet fixed in his role as finance minister, including the high cost of living for the middle class, poverty among children, small businesses that cannot get off the ground, and young couples who cannot afford to buy a home.
The Yesh Atid chairman promised God to improve the education system, help Holocaust survivors and limit the power of financial tycoons. He also addressed his current profession and the one he left: Politics and the media.
“As long as our public discourse continues to be violent and shallow, purist, extremist, full of insults and devoid of listening, we have what to change,” Lapid wrote. “As long as our politics is cynical, headline- chasing and prefers televised fights to cooperation that brings results, we have what to change.”
United Torah Judaism MK Ya’acov Asher blasted Lapid’s Facebook post.
“Even on Yom Kippur eve, a day that unites the Jewish people, Lapid decided to continue to spread hatred and sow discord among the sectors of the nation,” Asher said.
“This man is unfit to be a leader.”