Sent hours before the event

Lapid mocks Ohana with Psalms verse

Opposition leader Yair Lapid responds to Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana's invitation to a Torah study event with a pointed verse from Tehillim about lying lips

Gila Isaacson

OCT 1, 2026 17:44

2 min read

Opposition leader Yair Lapid declined an invitation from Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to a Torah study event on Hoshana Rabba night, responding with a pointed message that included a verse from Tehillim.

Lapid said Thursday that Ohana sent him a WhatsApp message at 1:42 PM inviting him to a Torah study event in the sukkah that evening. "Two possibilities," Lapid wrote. "1. They didn't know in advance that tonight is Hoshana Rabba night and were shocked to suddenly discover it in the calendar, 2. They deliberately sent it so late so I couldn't come and they could say I refused to attend a Torah study event."

Lapid concluded with a barb: "In any case, since I cannot come on such short notice, I remind them that on Hoshana Rabba night it is customary to read Tehillim, and I suggest they study this evening the verse: 'Hashem, save my soul from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue' (Psalms 120:2)."

Senior security officials will attend the study session in the Knesset sukkah: Mossad chief Roman Gofman, Shin Bet head David Zini, Military Intelligence chief Shmuel Ben Ezra, Police Commissioner David Levi, and Atomic Energy Commission chairman Moshe Adri.

The event will also include students from the Tavor pre-military academy, reservists' wives, and wounded IDF soldiers. The Prime Minister's Office said the Torah study is "for the elevation of the souls of Israel's fallen and terror victims, for the healing of the wounded of the people of Israel, and for the unity of the people of Israel."