Hungarian MP barred from saying Jewish prayer

[Behind the Aegis]

BUDAPEST(AFP)---The Hungarian parliament barred a Jewish lawmaker on Thursday from saying a Jewish prayer during a session of parliament to mark Holocaust remembrance day next week.

Tamas Suchman, a member of the ruling Socialist party, said he wanted to say the Kaddish, the mourners prayer, in parliament because this was where the first anti-Jewish laws in Europe were passed in the inter-war period.

But the parliament’s rules committee said Thursday that while Suchman -- who is Jewish -- could speak in parliament on Holocaust remembrance day on Monday he would not be allowed to say the Kaddish.

"It has not been customary to say prayers during the plenary so the parliamentary groups decided not to create a precedent for this," Speaker of Parliament Katalin Szili, a fellow Socialist MP, told Hungarian MTI national news agency.

more...

[rockymountaindem]

1. Seems reasonable

While on the one hand I think it would have been a nice gesture to allow him to recite it, I can undertand why they would want to maintain their secular tradition. Besides, wouldn't he need a minyan for Kaddish anyway?

[Behind the Aegis]

2. I agree.

I just thought it was an interesting article. It doesn't seem, at least to me, that they are limiting him other than by already pre-established rules. As for the recitation of the Kaddish, I do believe there is supposed to be a minyan, but as with all Jewish laws, there is always a time for exceptions. :)