Opposition head and Yesh Atid MK Yair Lapid gave an impromptu Torah lesson on the Knesset floor on Wednesday, in response to United Torah Judaism MK Yitzhak Pindrus, who the day before had called the LGBTQ community the country’s greatest danger.
“Yesterday MK Pindrus said of the LGBT-community: ‘It’s more dangerous than the Hamas and Hezbollah’,” Lapid said, before pointing out a Torah quote made by Pindrus, suggesting that the Jews would be at risk of getting thrown out of the country because of it.
Pindrus had said that “The most dangerous thing for the State of Israel, more than ISIS and Hezbollah is the LGBTQ+ community,” adding that “If it were up to me, I would prevent not just the pride march but also the whole movement.”
“First of all, [this] was said of all the sinners, not just the LGBT-community,” said the son of the famously anti-religious former MK Tommy Lapid, before pulling a Kippah out of his pocket. “Out of respect for the Torah, I will put on a Kippah,” Lapid said and went on to read from the book of Numbers, 20:20: “You shall faithfully observe all My laws and all My regulations, lest the land … spew you out.”
Lapid brought up some descriptions of sins and the appropriate punishments in the Torah, saying that these are thought the be graver sins than to belong to the LGBT-community.
בבחירה בין פינדרוס לשלמה המלך – אני בוחר בשלמה המלך.תפסיקו לרדוף את הקהילה הלהט״בית. pic.twitter.com/Mw2WH7kses
— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) June 22, 2023
Lapid prefers King Solomon to Pindrus
He mentioned the death penalties for eating khametz (leavened bread) on Pessach or for disagreeing with the Sanhedrin, among others. He especially described the death penalty for cursing one’s parents, joking that “I hope my sons are listening to this right now… Why don’t you [Haredi MKs] propose a bill like that?”
Lapid then criticized the MKs for concentrating on the specific sin of belonging to the LGBT-community, stressing again that there are other, more serious sins but that he would not want to be the one to rank them.
Instead, Lapid quoted King Solomon in Proverbs, where he gives a list of the worst seven sins, but “what do you know, the LGBT-community doesn’t appear there!” Lapid commented.
Finally, Lapid accused the Haredi MKs of one of the sins mentioned in Proverbs, creating rifts and conflicts among the people of Israel “which is exactly what you do today, from morning til evening.”
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