ShalomNewYork.com

In statements released ahead of and on Independence Day, President Shimon Peres continues to defend the chareidi population, rejecting the generally acceptable practice of belittling, ridiculing and adversely commenting on the chareidi way of life.
Peres spoke of the three major sectors of poverty in Israel, the chareidim, Arabs and youth. He explained that regarding the chareidi sector, accommodations must be made to permit them to enter the work place on their terms. If woman cannot work in certain environment due to modesty issues, “then bring the computers to her home,? stated the president.
“One mustn´t ridicule a Jew who wears his tzitzis outside his garment. What is the joke? What is there to ridicule. If he must daven, then permit him to daven. So what!”
“Before we begin giving mussar to the chareidim we should evaluate ourselves… First of all, we must change our attitudes towards the chareidi community… Democracy is the right to be different.?
When asked how he would like to see the country in another 60 years, the president responded, “We should be old like the Ten Commandments and modern like nanotechnology.?
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)