Sunday, June 16, 2013

Let's Get Political!



Is this for real? When they said chachmas sofrim [and all the like], I didn't think the in-house fighting would be that bad.
It is.
What happened to the good 'ole days when at least one was called a baal ha-baas or an am ha-aretz? Are we playing by terms of evil [openly] now? If so, the rabbi wars are sure to be prolific at the very least. 

Toldos Yaakov Yosef says there are 3 types of galus: a) Israel among nations b) talmid chacham among amei ha-aretz [as was Rebbe Akiva] c) kosher talmidei chachamim among false talmidei chachamim.

Rav Yosef pulled out the big artillery...should we assume the final galus is upon us? In a largely gadol-less dor, it would seem this is our task in the End of Days, to use free will to ascertain kosher from treif, as the Toldos Yaakov Yosef goes on to explain concerning the 3rd type of galus.

JPost.com



Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef issued a fierce attack against candidate for the chief rabbinate Rabbi David Stav Saturday night, calling him "an evil man."

Yosef's comments come just days after the rabbi instructed Shas MKs to block the so called Amar bill which was designed to allow serving Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar to stand again for election.

The terms of the deal were for Amar to support Stav in return for Bayit Yehudi helping pass the legislation to enable Amar's re-election.

"This man is dangerous to Judaism, the Torah and the rabbinate," said Yosef in reference to Stav during his weekly Torah lesson.

"Rabbi Amar is an upright and righteous man by they are using his name to elect an evil man who is unfitting to be anything," Yosef continued.

"Suddenly everyone is shouting that they want Stav [as chief rabbi]; if he was a Talmud Hacham [learned Torah Scholar] they would hate him," the rabbi claimed.

On Sunday, the five members of the oversight committee for the chef rabbinate elections will be presented to the cabinet and are expected to be confirmed.

Once this body had been appointed it will no longer be possible to make any legislative changes to the process for electing chief rabbis. This will kill off once and for all any chance of Amar being able to stand again for chief rabbi.

The oversight committee will include for the first time two women, who have been appointed by Deputy Minister for Religious Affairs Eli Ben-Dahan, who emphasised his work in the past promoting women's advancement in society.

Dahan said that he hoped the process would lead to the appointment of a national religious rabbi.


4 comments :

rabbi david katz said...

The Tzohar national-religious rabbinical association strongly protested comments made by Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef on Saturday night, who said that candidate for Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi and Tzohar Chairman Rabbi David Stav was “an evil man,” and was “dangerous to Judaism and the Torah.”

In a statement to the press, Tzohar called on Yosef to “do repentance” for his comments and to “ask for forgiveness” from Stav for the sin of embarrassing a person in public.

“The Tzohar management protests the words of incitement that were heard from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef against a great rabbi who has devoted his life to the love of Torah through the Jewish people,” the organization said.

“The manner of his words, their content, and the fact that they were said by someone without making the smallest attempt to get to know the man he is embarrassing in public testifies to the urgent need to change the face of the rabbinate in Israel,” Tzohar continued.

“The Jewish people needs a rabbinate that knows how to connect it to Judaism and not to cause hatred with curses and abuse.

“Religious Zionism does not need the approval of anyone for its Torah sages and it knows how to bequeath the Zionist inheritance – Judaism for all the Jewish people.”

Speaking from the synagogue in his residence during his weekly Torah lesson, Yosef issued a fierce attack against Stav, saying that he did not “fear heaven” and was evil.

“Friends of his from his own party told me to my face that this man is dangerous to Judaism, dangerous to the rabbinate and dangerous to the Torah,” Yosef said.

Education Minister and strong Stav supporter Shai Piron spoke out against Yosef on Sunday, questioning the morality and validity in Jewish law of such comments.

“Why? Why does Rabbi Ovadiah curse?!,” Piron wrote on his Facebook page. “Does he think that brings people closer to the Torah and Judaism. Does he think that to speak about someone that he’s never met is ethical?! In accordance with Jewish law?! Jewish?!"

Separately, on Sunday, the five members of the oversight committee for the chief rabbi elections were approved in a cabinet meeting.

The official appointment of this body means that it is now no longer possible to make any legislative changes to the process for electing the chief rabbis and means that the so-called Amar bill, which would have permitted Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar to stand for re-election, is finally dead.

Unknown said...

Now we just have to stay low through all of this.

Allan said...

amnom ytzhak is surely a false scholar.Who would create so much division and arguments and criticize r ovadia the way he made?For what sake?
How to reconize a true scholar?
Simple.The true ones are discrete,dont like to claim useless attention and have no proud of themselfs.They also avoid discussing and using arguments out of torah study.And they love secular people and try to find good things on they and the army.The false erev rav rabis hate secular people in their heart.

Anonymous said...

Think that people nowadays are very mistaken as most do not really understand the Torah and tend to think in western terms of being politcally correct, democratic. Reminds of the new type of hechsher that the Conservatives have come up with 'hechsher tzedek', which is a joke, rather than being meticulous in kashrut. All this is really part of the watering down of Judaism in its true form to accommodate the ignorant Jews, instead of teaching them what it is to be a yid. It is also part of Israel's internationalization which, in itself, is Torah upside down. Instead of a nation that dwells alone, it is throwing out Torah to be accepted. It is known that HaRav Yosef, shlita, is one of the greatest Torah scholars of modern times. He tends to not hide his feelings when he feels Torah is being threatened. This is one of those times; apparently, it seems that Rabbi Stav is noted for his leniency in conversions and, in general. At this time when Torah is under attack from the secular regime, it needs for the Rabbinate to be as it was before more than ever. Also, Rabbis should not be political but just true to Torah. Politization of the Rabbinate is wrong. What we need now more than ever in history of our people is Jewish Education; that is the basis for the future. We pledged at Sinai that the children, may they be blessed, will be the guarantors. The Erev Rav are very clever and have really done their job well in washing away all that we hold dear and created the unJew, r'l. Now it's time for the bneiYisrael to reawaken.

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