JERUSALEM (JTA) — A lawmaker from the haredi Orthodox Shas Party said Gilad Shalit should have spent his first Shabbat of freedom not at the beach but praying in synagogue.
Meshulam Nahari also said during a Shas convention this week that the 25-year-old soldier should have recited the benediction of deliverance in synagogue, a Jewish prayer of thanksgiving recited when someone survives a difficult or dangerous time, Ynet reported.
Photos of Shalit at the beach were published in the Israeli daily Haaretz; a Haaretz photographer had been camping on the beach with his family when he saw the Shalits arrive early in the morning.
Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has called on Nahari to help bring Shalit closer to Judaism, Nahari said according to Ynet.
Nahari invited the Shalit family to come to his home to say the benediction prayer, Ynet reported.
Shalit was freed last month in a prisoner swap for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails after spending more than five years in captivity. The Israeli media has for the most part respected the family’s wish for privacy.
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