Rabbi Yaakov Ariel, one of the leading rabbis of Religious Zionism and former Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan, believes that Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef’s remarks about Rabbi Tamir Granot were an accidental slip of the tongue - comments that Rabbi Yosef likely regrets.
“We’re talking about a great man and a great halakhic authority, an outstanding Torah scholar - the Rishon LeZion,” Rabbi Ariel emphasized, adding that these were “words I’m not sure he doesn’t regret.”
“Sometimes a person utters words that he should not have said, and he himself regrets having said them,” Rabbi Ariel continued, again highlighting Rabbi Yosef’s stature in Torah and halakha. “But sometimes people make mistakes and stumble with their words. This was a slip of the tongue,” he said.
When asked whether the remarks constitute an affront to the entire Religious Zionist Torah world, Rabbi Ariel firmly rejected the notion and insisted on viewing the incident as nothing more than that. “I believe he regrets what he said,” he reiterated.
Yesterday, Radio Kol Chai published a recording of Rabbi Yosef’s remarks against Rabbi Granot - head of the Orot Shaul Hesder Yeshiva in Tel Aviv and father of Captain Amitai who fell in the war - prompted by Granot’s call to enlist haredim in the IDF.
“They attacked me, several heads of yeshivot. There’s one rabbi - I don’t know if he’s a rabbi - Granot, head of a Hesder yeshiva. How he spoke on television against us. Aren’t you afraid of insulting Torah scholars? The Gemara asks, how shall we know who is an apikorus [heretic]? Someone who says, ‘What do the yeshiva students benefit?’ He says - everyone to the army. Why should all of us go to the army? We learn Torah. Just as there is the Air Force, there is God’s force, who sit and engage in Torah and defend all the people of Israel. He attacked me. I think there are some of them that if they come to join the minyan, we will not include them in the count. They are in the category of apikorus. Not everyone.”
Rabbi Yossef's remarks were criticized by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Tzhohar head Rabbi David Stav.