Rome Chief Rabbi decides Not to join the Pope's Minyan with Peres and Abbas

 

It seems that Peres only likes to daven with "Galachim" and terrorists, but the Chief Rabbi of Rome will only daven with other Jews.

 



 At the interfaith prayer meeting held Sunday at the Vatican with Pope Francis, Shimon Peres and Mahmoud Abbas, one Italian religious figure was noticeably absent – Riccardo Di Segni, Rome’s chief rabbi.

Di Segni had been invited to the prayer meeting but did not attend, stating he had “other commitments” to attend according to reports Haaretz

Di Segni has never been a strong proponent of Catholic/Jewish dialogue. In an interview with Haaretz last month, he said, “from the theological point of view,” Catholics and Jews “have nothing to discuss,” but does support what he calls “good neighborly relations.”

The June edition of Pagine Ebraiche – a Jewish monthly magazine – published another interview given by Di Segni where he criticized the interfaith prayer and described it as, “puzzling and even dangerous.”

Il Foglio, a right-wing daily paper with a conservative Catholic perspective, published another interview with Di Segni in which he stated that if he hadn’t already had other plans to attend to, he would have attended “as a mere observer” and made it clear that Pope Francis did not invite him to the session, but Shimon Peres did.

Not all Italian rabbis agree with De Segni. Florence’s chief rabbi, Dr. Joseph Levi, supports the pope’s efforts to build interfaith dialogue, and attended Sunday’s prayer meeting. The president of Italy’s Rabbinic Assembly, Giuseppe Momigliano, also supported the event.
Renzo Gattegna, president of the Comunità Ebraiche Italiane, the national umbrella organization of Italian Jewry, and leader of Rome’s Jewish Community, Riccardo Pacifici, also attended.