Katzav fell of his tightrope!

Israel's President, Moshe Katzav, the parve politician with the kippah in his pocket and smile on his face, best known for convincing hunger-strikers to eat, fell off his tightrope.

During his term as president, he has made more enemies because of his lack of opinions, staying calm and "unifying" when thousands of Israelis were exiled from their homes during Disengagement.

Personally, I was shocked that "Mr. Nice" blew it over the issue of "reform rabbis." Considering all that has been going on here in Israel and all the people he has offended by not taking a stand. I remember when my neighbor, Moshe Keinan, had his protest Succah, outside the President's Residence immediately after his son, Avihu, was killed in a badly planned army action. President Katzav invited Moshe to visit, so Moshe did with other bereaved parents. I remember asking Moshe how it was:

Katzav was kind, sympathetic, but
"gurnisht," nothing as they say in Yiddish.

I had hoped that Katzav would have taken a stand last summer, but maybe it was the stresses of Disengagement that made him "snap." I'd like to think that's the case.