I really wasn?t going to touch this issue. After all, I?m Ashkenazi and a woman, at that. Usually, I would disregard such ranting from the illustrious rabbi. But, while ignorance does indeed offer one a temporary sort of bliss, in the long run, wearing blinders can get both people and nations into a lot of hot water.
Some spiritual leaders address very weighty issues and yet, somehow, their words defy gravity, travel upwards, and appear to transcend the very heavens. On the other hand, some of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef?s words are inclined to gravitate in a downward direction.
They begin in that beautiful Beit Knesset in the hills of Jerusalem, but are quickly picked-up and broadcast on the local airwaves. From there, they meet the press and appear in black and off-white in the Israeli daily Maariv. But Haaretz won?t be outdone, and, before you know it, virtually the whole world has access to Rabbi Ovadia?s vexing remarks against Ashkenazim - as they?ve already raced down the information highway and have received a prominent link on the BBC.
Had things stopped there, I would have remained silent and absorbed yet another humiliation for our people, but then the good rabbi?s offensive message made it all the way to Al-Jazeera. That?s right, Saddam and Osama?s favorite communications tool - the station which plays everybody?s favorite Jihad jingle had this to say:
?The spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Shas party for Sephardic Jews has accused Ashkenazi Jews of being the source of all evil.... Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said during a lecture on the Torah in Jerusalem that "all evil stems from the Ashkenazis".... The 80-year-old rabbi is not a representative of some fringe movement - Shas has 11 MPs in the 120-member Israeli parliament....
?The party claims to represent Sephardic Jews from the Mediterranean and Middle East and Rabbi Yosef is considered a leading expert on the Torah....
??You, the Jewish Ashkenazis, you have been in the West, in Hell. Why did you come here? What you say or do is of little importance,? he said.
?Internationally, tensions are just as high. Scores of self-styled ?Torah True Jews? based in the United States have criticised Israel?s continuing attempt to refer to itself as ?the Jewish State?.... In a high profile email campaign last Wednesday, thousands of people received a stark warning of ?the danger Zionists were placing on Jews worldwide?.... Rabbi Dovid Feldman told Aljazeera.net that a silent majority of Jews opposed the Zionist ideology, which led to the creation of modern Israel....?
Had enough? Now, if the statements emanating from one eminent and one not-so eminent rabbi can cause this kind of damage in the physical and virtual worlds, then just imagine what?s taking place in the metaphysical realms.
It?s true that many of us came from the ?Hell? of Europe and returned to our homeland, but Rabbi Ovadia Yosef himself was born in Baghdad and at one point chose to leave Jerusalem in order to go live and work in Egypt (for many of us, a return to Mitzrayim would be considered the ultimate hell).
The trouble we?re facing has nothing to do with Ashkenazim or Sephardim. It has to do with our lack of political and spiritual leadership in times of crisis.
I won?t accept excuses from spokespersons and spin doctors for Rabbi Ovadia. If his comments are being consistently taken out of context, then perhaps it?s time he stopped commenting in public. Yes, he?s eighty years old and he may have lost his touch, but if this is the case, then it would be advisable for his very large following to find an alternative leader.
I am not discounting his brilliant memory and his abilities to decipher detailed laws, nor am I questioning his accepted rulings. But what is unfortunate is that his most notorious contribution and legacy may be that he?s given us all a profound understanding of the concept of Hilul Hashem.
The fact is that no matter how well-versed Rabbi Ovadia is in the complexities of Torah study and the intricacies of the Halacha, we simple Israeli women of Polish, Russian, Hungarian, Morrocan, Yemenite and Syrian extraction have a piece of the Torah ingrained in our hearts that predates the account delivered at Sinai. We know in our guts when we?ve beheld the eyes of killers and deceivers. We learned that from our mothers, Sara and Rivka, when they perceived the look and actions of Yishmael and Esau. It?s something most men, including scholars and distinguished rabbis, may never comprehend.
And that?s why scores of Jewish mothers (both Ashkenazim and Sephardim) were protesting outside of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef?s home several years ago. We saw something and knew something that was above and beyond him and a good many of the spiritual and political leaders both in Israel and the Diaspora.
Below is just one of the many letters and petitions that we had delivered to the rabbi?s home over a period of two years (1993-1995). It should be noted that similar messages were hand delivered to the Shas MKs at the time.
Honorable Rabbi,
We are a group of religious women from Jerusalem. We represent the conscience and the heart of many women in Israel. We are very concerned about the policies of the current government and fear for the (G-d forbid) horrible future that is waiting for our children. We fear for their spiritual and their physical lives. We are feeling the pain of the many families who have been destroyed since the inception of the Oslo Accords. The number of orphans from the terror is enormous.
Dear Rabbi, as one who always expresses and gives value to an individual?s life and who emphasizes the importance of preserving life, we petition you and beg you - do all you can to bring about the fall of this destructive, anti-Torah government. Please oppose the coalition.
Shas helped create this coalition and so we now ask Shas to fell it.
We will stand here day after day reading Tehillim, begging and asking that this will be done.
In all fairness, it seems that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef?s recent tirade may have been over a Kashrut issue, as he refers to a dispute between Ashkenazi and Sephardi kosher butchers. However (if this Ashkenazi woman may be so bold as to relay a lesson in Basic Torah 101), it must be remembered that we Jews come in different shapes and colors and have different opinions. But, if we remember the commitments we made at Sinai, and we?re able to integrate our fear of G-d with a love of Torah, the Land of Israel and our People, then we may be able to rid ourselves of the Arab butchers in our midst.
The rest is commentary.
Some spiritual leaders address very weighty issues and yet, somehow, their words defy gravity, travel upwards, and appear to transcend the very heavens. On the other hand, some of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef?s words are inclined to gravitate in a downward direction.
They begin in that beautiful Beit Knesset in the hills of Jerusalem, but are quickly picked-up and broadcast on the local airwaves. From there, they meet the press and appear in black and off-white in the Israeli daily Maariv. But Haaretz won?t be outdone, and, before you know it, virtually the whole world has access to Rabbi Ovadia?s vexing remarks against Ashkenazim - as they?ve already raced down the information highway and have received a prominent link on the BBC.
Had things stopped there, I would have remained silent and absorbed yet another humiliation for our people, but then the good rabbi?s offensive message made it all the way to Al-Jazeera. That?s right, Saddam and Osama?s favorite communications tool - the station which plays everybody?s favorite Jihad jingle had this to say:
?The spiritual leader of Israel's ultra-Orthodox Shas party for Sephardic Jews has accused Ashkenazi Jews of being the source of all evil.... Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said during a lecture on the Torah in Jerusalem that "all evil stems from the Ashkenazis".... The 80-year-old rabbi is not a representative of some fringe movement - Shas has 11 MPs in the 120-member Israeli parliament....
?The party claims to represent Sephardic Jews from the Mediterranean and Middle East and Rabbi Yosef is considered a leading expert on the Torah....
??You, the Jewish Ashkenazis, you have been in the West, in Hell. Why did you come here? What you say or do is of little importance,? he said.
?Internationally, tensions are just as high. Scores of self-styled ?Torah True Jews? based in the United States have criticised Israel?s continuing attempt to refer to itself as ?the Jewish State?.... In a high profile email campaign last Wednesday, thousands of people received a stark warning of ?the danger Zionists were placing on Jews worldwide?.... Rabbi Dovid Feldman told Aljazeera.net that a silent majority of Jews opposed the Zionist ideology, which led to the creation of modern Israel....?
Had enough? Now, if the statements emanating from one eminent and one not-so eminent rabbi can cause this kind of damage in the physical and virtual worlds, then just imagine what?s taking place in the metaphysical realms.
It?s true that many of us came from the ?Hell? of Europe and returned to our homeland, but Rabbi Ovadia Yosef himself was born in Baghdad and at one point chose to leave Jerusalem in order to go live and work in Egypt (for many of us, a return to Mitzrayim would be considered the ultimate hell).
The trouble we?re facing has nothing to do with Ashkenazim or Sephardim. It has to do with our lack of political and spiritual leadership in times of crisis.
I won?t accept excuses from spokespersons and spin doctors for Rabbi Ovadia. If his comments are being consistently taken out of context, then perhaps it?s time he stopped commenting in public. Yes, he?s eighty years old and he may have lost his touch, but if this is the case, then it would be advisable for his very large following to find an alternative leader.
I am not discounting his brilliant memory and his abilities to decipher detailed laws, nor am I questioning his accepted rulings. But what is unfortunate is that his most notorious contribution and legacy may be that he?s given us all a profound understanding of the concept of Hilul Hashem.
The fact is that no matter how well-versed Rabbi Ovadia is in the complexities of Torah study and the intricacies of the Halacha, we simple Israeli women of Polish, Russian, Hungarian, Morrocan, Yemenite and Syrian extraction have a piece of the Torah ingrained in our hearts that predates the account delivered at Sinai. We know in our guts when we?ve beheld the eyes of killers and deceivers. We learned that from our mothers, Sara and Rivka, when they perceived the look and actions of Yishmael and Esau. It?s something most men, including scholars and distinguished rabbis, may never comprehend.
And that?s why scores of Jewish mothers (both Ashkenazim and Sephardim) were protesting outside of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef?s home several years ago. We saw something and knew something that was above and beyond him and a good many of the spiritual and political leaders both in Israel and the Diaspora.
Below is just one of the many letters and petitions that we had delivered to the rabbi?s home over a period of two years (1993-1995). It should be noted that similar messages were hand delivered to the Shas MKs at the time.
Honorable Rabbi,
We are a group of religious women from Jerusalem. We represent the conscience and the heart of many women in Israel. We are very concerned about the policies of the current government and fear for the (G-d forbid) horrible future that is waiting for our children. We fear for their spiritual and their physical lives. We are feeling the pain of the many families who have been destroyed since the inception of the Oslo Accords. The number of orphans from the terror is enormous.
Dear Rabbi, as one who always expresses and gives value to an individual?s life and who emphasizes the importance of preserving life, we petition you and beg you - do all you can to bring about the fall of this destructive, anti-Torah government. Please oppose the coalition.
Shas helped create this coalition and so we now ask Shas to fell it.
We will stand here day after day reading Tehillim, begging and asking that this will be done.
In all fairness, it seems that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef?s recent tirade may have been over a Kashrut issue, as he refers to a dispute between Ashkenazi and Sephardi kosher butchers. However (if this Ashkenazi woman may be so bold as to relay a lesson in Basic Torah 101), it must be remembered that we Jews come in different shapes and colors and have different opinions. But, if we remember the commitments we made at Sinai, and we?re able to integrate our fear of G-d with a love of Torah, the Land of Israel and our People, then we may be able to rid ourselves of the Arab butchers in our midst.
The rest is commentary.