{"id":8481,"date":"2013-08-02T05:00:04","date_gmt":"2013-08-02T11:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=8481"},"modified":"2013-08-02T05:00:04","modified_gmt":"2013-08-02T11:00:04","slug":"israeli-chief-rabbi-david-lau-slur-on-blacks-was-a-joke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/israeli-chief-rabbi-david-lau-slur-on-blacks-was-a-joke\/","title":{"rendered":"Israeli Chief Rabbi David Lau: Slur on blacks was a ‘joke’"},"content":{"rendered":"

JERUSALEM (JTA) — Rabbi David Lau, the newly elected chief rabbi of Israel, said a remark he made about blacks<\/a> that was widely condemned as racist was a “joke.”<\/p>\n

Lau told haredi Orthodox students at a yeshiva in the Israeli town of Modiin Illit last week to stop hanging out at convenience stores to watch basketball on television.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do you care about whether the \u2018kushim\u2019 who get paid in Tel Aviv beat the \u2018kushim\u2019\u00a0<\/em>who get paid in Greece?\u201d he said, using a derogatory Israeli term for blacks.<\/p>\n

The remarks were first reported by a phone news service for haredim, Hakol Haharedi, and subsequently picked up by major Israeli newspapers.<\/p>\n

In an interview Thursday on Israel Radio, Lau responded to the criticism by saying that Israelis “excel at taking a humorous remark and turning it into a headline.” He added, “The one and only headline is: You are yeshiva students so sit and study Torah.”<\/p>\n

Lau was elected last month to a 10-year term as Israel’s Ashkenazi chief rabbi. After the reports this week about his comment, he canceled a planned vacation abroad.<\/p>\n

\"Share