After the uproar: Sephardi Chief Rabbi explains himself

Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, addressed the controversy sparked by his remarks on Saturday night about the haredim leaving the country if the Draft Law passes.

Rabbi Yosef clarified that his remarks were aimed only at those engaged in Torah learning, and noted that anyone who is not studying is forbidden from finding excuses to be exempt from IDF service.

Rabbi Yosef opened his remarks by expressing appreciation for IDF and its soldiers, stressing that his words "do not take anything away from those soldiers who sacrifice their lives on the front line for the people of Israel, or from those precious bereaved families of soldiers who fell in defense of the Jewish nation, whose place is in the front row of Heaven, with all those who fell for the sanctification of God’s name, may He be blessed."

He added, "On the contrary, those who are learning Torah, their greatest strength and duty in learning Torah is knowing that they have a responsibility to protect the people of Israel and the soldiers, and that they must not leave their learning even for a second, through their learning and mutual responsibility they are supporting the soldiers."

He later explained his comment about leaving Israel and said, "The whole justification for our existence here in the Land of Israel is the preservation of the Torah, thanks to which we survived as a people for thousands of years and returned to our land. Without the Torah, what are we fighting for? How is the Land of Israel different from other countries?"

Rabbi Yosef emphasized that his remarks on Saturday night were about Torah students: "I am talking mainly about yeshiva students who, thank God, are able to study Torah all day, as opposed to the minority in our sector who do not study Torah. They are absolutely forbidden from finding excuses not to serve in the IDF."

On Saturday night, Rabbi Yosef said, "There are men who go to reserve duty, and they are not able to learn Torah. Were they all able to be Torah students who were exempt from the army? But the tribe of Levi is exempt from the army. They are not taken, under any circumstances, whatever happens. If they force us to go to the army, we will all go abroad. We'll buy tickets... There is no such thing."

"All these secular people who don't understand this, they need to understand that without the Torah, without the kollel, without the yeshivas – there would be no existence, the army would not succeed," added the Chief Rabbi. "The soldiers succeed because of those who learn Torah. Everyone should say this with pride. Yes, we learn Torah, and the Torah is what protects us."