Religious hoax: May women read the megilla?

Fake halacha ruling of the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar, stating that women are not allowed to read the megilla to other women in public, caused a sensation in recent days at the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, after the Rabbi's office received inquiries from media which expressed surprise at the ruling. Only after a thorough investigation it became clear that it was a Purim joke spread by a rabbi.

In the hoax ruling Rabbi Amar went strongly against the custom that women read the megilla, "Therefore we appeal to the rabbis of the neighborhoods and communities that give a hand to this new practice," the false ruling wrote.

"And if there are places about to do so, the Rabbi must go out against this wasteful practice harshly."
The ruling, written on the official letterhead and attached to the signature of Rabbi Amar, noted that the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger joins this halachic position that is based on the method of Hgr"o Yosef.

Somehow the document rolled and came into the hands of many, among others, journalists. As a result, the office of Sephardic Chief Rabbi - who spent the last few days overseas - and the speaker's at the bureau of the chief rabbinate began to receive phone calls, which were required to provide an explanation for the surprising ruling.

The forgery came to the ears of Rabbi Amar, who demanded a thorough investigation who is behind the invented ruling. Initially the Rabbinate suspected a certain political body, but suspicion quickly proved wrong. Chief spokesman quickly issue a clarification.

"The letter from 4th Adar," it said, "with the signature of the Rishon LeZion Rabbi Amar, concerning reading the megillah by women, is fake. An organized ruling will be published in the coming days. "

Then, after a thorough investigation, the forger was discovered: A Rabbi of a settlement in Israel edited a letter written by Rabbi Amar and changed its contents-in order to make a Purim joke on his congregation.

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!