Aryeh Deri
Aryeh Deriצילום: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Members of the Shas Council of Sages of the Shas movement, led by Rabbi Shalom Cohen, have published a letter in which they protest the unprecedented incitement against the Haredi community in the media and Supreme Court rulings on issues concerning the Jewish character of the state.

Regarding the rulings of the Supreme Court, the rabbis wrote, "Wanton sinners and haters of God, backed by various secular parties, have risen up against us, seeking to uproot everything we hold holy. They have even ruled that we are to see leavened food on Passover. It is a sorry day for us.”

The Rabbis protested the media incitement against the Haredi public, "The media spew endless lies and hatred against the Holy People. This slander is as grave a sin as actual bloodshed.”

Council members gave full backing to the actions of Shas chairman Aryeh Deri in his response to the COVID-19 crisis. "He stood, where no one else would dare, against all pressures to close down Yeshivas, and in doing so kept the holy light of Torah alive.”

At the end, the council members called for the public to work for the Shas movement, saying "Everyone who sits idle in his house and refrains from coming to the aid of God and the mighty ones of our generation, discovers retroactively that he is a sinner. Anyone who instead acts for the sake of Heaven will find himself a host of the Divine presence and will have earned himself peace in this world and the next.”