The Chief Rabbinate of Israel is critical of the Shabbos handout sheets, the sheets that have become commonplace in almost all shuls throughout Eretz Yisrael. The Chief Rabbinate Council met and one of the items that was raised was the genizah of all of these Torah sheets.

Chief Rabbi Dovid Lau Shlita said “In recent years, particularly in recent months, hundreds of Shabbos sheets are being distributed in shuls and in many of them, there is almost no Torah content but they are filled with advertisements and politics. There is no doubt this is a disgrace for shuls thousands of these sheets are thrown in trash cans weekly and they do contain words of Torah”.

The council decided to appeal to the people behind the sheets to refrain from including pesukim and HKBH’s name since most sheets are not placed in genizah as required. The council stresses that the sheets contain too much inappropriate material, politics and adverts that have no place in any shul. The council adds the same holds true for all adverts, including newspapers and handouts during the week, to refrain from using HKBH’s name and pesukim.

The rabbonim lament the fact that with elections ahead, in many cases, the so-called Shabbos sheets become newspapers that contain a few words of Torah.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)