fbpx

Chief rabbi will recite Kaddish for Pollard’s father

Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said he\'ll say Kaddish for jailed spy Jonathan Pollard\'s father, who was buried Monday.
[additional-authors]
June 22, 2011

Israeli Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger said he’ll say Kaddish for jailed spy Jonathan Pollard’s father, who was buried Monday.

Pollard cannot say Kaddish for his father, Morris, with a minyan because there is none in the federal prison in North Carolina in which Pollard is serving a life sentence for spying for Israel. Pollard was not granted release to attend his father’s funeral.

“When I visited Pollard in prison, he asked me to say Kaddish on the anniversary of his mother’s death, as he has no minyan,” Metzger told Israeli media. “Unfortunately, the situation hasn’t changed, and so I have taken upon myself to do this minor thing, for our brother Jonathan and for his father’s soul.”

Metzger has called on President Obama to grant Pollard clemency.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

We Are Upset Because We Can Read

One of the stranger features of this debate is the insistence that critics are reacting to rumors or bad-faith interpretations. That might have been plausible before the text was released. It is much harder to argue now that the document is public.

Print Issue: A Time-Out for Gratitude | June 26, 2026

America’s 250th birthday arrives at a time when things have been especially lousy for Jews. But gratitude is a great Jewish value, so we’ve created a very special birthday present: an e-book with 250 reasons to be grateful for America.

Bye-Bye Bluebird: A Greek Summer with an Israeli Twist

Wandering through narrow streets filled with cafés, restaurants and small boutique shops, it was easy to understand why so many Israeli visitors fall in love with Greece and keep coming back or simply stay permanently.

Did Hamas Accomplish Its Oct. 7 Goal?

The Hamas supporters have managed, at least for now, to turn American elected officials and a large portion of the American population against one of its foremost allies.

The Politics of War

Trump’s biggest headache will be Netanyahu, his erstwhile ally who now recognizes that continued loyalty to the American leader would cost him his own reelection this fall.

There Would Be No America Without Jerusalem

America is not modern Israel’s creator, and Israel is not America’s dependent. The two nations have influenced one another and benefited from one another, but the deepest roots of that relationship predate them both.

Vance Wants the Jews to Keep Quiet

Vance is not the first political leader to lose his temper because somebody, somewhere, criticized a policy of his. And it’s not the first time the vice president has tried to bully an American ally through the tactic of public shaming.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.