Yitzhak Yosef has no business being chief rabbi of Israel
Change system and criteria for choosing next chief rabbis long before the next vote in 2023
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Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef
is on a rampage. Time and time again he erupts with loutish tirades,
attacking Israel, secular Israelis and Russian immigrant would-be
converts. He savages religious-Zionist Israelis, too, even though he
heads an institution that is an expression of religious Zionism par
excellence in the reborn Jewish state.
Rabbi
Yosef’s latest diatribe was directed at that heart of mainstream
Israel, which is far too materialistic and profane for his tastes. In
fact, “Herzliya” is so bad that believing Jews should not live there.
“The spiritual harm done by living in that secular environment is worse
than dying,” he said.
As
a result, Yosef paskened (issued a religious law ruling) that observant
Jews in the Diaspora should not move to Israel if it means living in
such non-haredi areas. In other words, it is better to live in galut
(the Diaspora) than among secular Israelis.
Yosef
made these outrageous comments during his weekly Saturday night sermon,
with the visiting chief rabbi of the Tunisian island of Djerba, Rabbi
Haim Bitan, sitting next to him.
“When
I visited the Tunisian Jewish community, I was asked to rule whether or
not Djerba’s Jews should immigrate to Israel,” said Yosef. “I told them
it depends on where they would live. If they are going to live in an
ultra-Orthodox neighborhood or next to Kisse Rahamim [a Bnei Brak
yeshiva founded in Tunisia], then they should immigrate to Israel. But
if they are to live in a place like Herzliya or another one of the
secular locations... they should stay where they are.”
Chief
Rabbi Yosef’s so-called “halachic guidance” is not only an affront to
the office he holds and to millions of Israelis who fight for this
country, pay taxes and hold authentic Jewish identities, it also
contradicts core Jewish teachings.
The
Talmud and Code of Jewish Law rule that a person should always strive
to live in the Land of Israel, even in a city where most people are not
Jews at all! Yosef’s remarks also run counter to biblical prophecies and
to the raison d’etre of the State of Israel regarding the ingathering
of all Jewish exiles.
So much for being a rishon le-Zion (leader of Zion), which is another formal title for the Sephardi chief rabbi of Israel.
Ten
days ago, Rabbi Yosef went on a rant against general education, arguing
that science and math are “nonsense,” and therefore youths should study
only in yeshivas that teach Torah subjects exclusively.
“There
is nothing like the holy Torah. The Torah is above everything,” said
Yosef in a synagogue address. “If a student is asked: ‘Where do you want
to go, a yeshiva high school [where religious studies are taught
together with the core “secular” curriculum] or a holy yeshiva? [where
only Talmud and Jewish law are taught], there is no doubt! Study at a
holy yeshiva. There, they learn Torah without secular subjects, without
the core curriculum, without all this nonsense. They sit and learn
Torah.”
Yosef
arrogantly boasted, “Myself, did I learn the core curriculum? Did I
finish school? Even today I don’t have a graduation certificate – not a
high school diploma and not a graduation certificate. Have I missed
anything? No. And look at the position I have risen to! So [secular
studies are] nonsense. The most important thing is our holy Torah.”
The
irony here is that everybody knows that Yitzhak Yosef became chief
rabbi of Israel not primarily because of his Judaic or general
knowledge, but thanks to his family lineage. He is the son of Rabbi
Ovadia Yosef, a former “Rishon le-Zion” and indeed one of the greatest
halachic scholars of the past century. Unfortunately, Ovadia Yosef’s sons all think they hold a patrimony over the Sephardi chief rabbi position and other key rabbinical posts.
THE
DISGRACE here is that Yitzhak Yosef essentially is promoting haredi
dependence on government handouts and charitable donations instead of
advancing self-reliance and community dignity through basic education.
The failure to give boys in the ultra-Orthodox sector core skills in
English, math, science and good citizenship, combined with the high
population growth of that community, means that Israel’s 21st-century,
hi-tech-oriented economy, and its Western democratic values, are in
peril.
Aside from
all that, Yosef’s position is contra-Jewish. Haredi dependency on the
dole is sacrilegious. It runs up against dozens of Talmudic and
authoritative Jewish legal sources that insist the only way to be a good
person is by making an honest wage.
“A
father is obligated to circumcise his son, to redeem the firstborn, to
teach him Torah, to marry him off, and to teach him a profession,”
instructs the Talmud (Kiddushin 29a), in order that he “should not
become a burden on the public.”
“It
is preferable that man eke out a livelihood as bitter as an olive
through work, and trust in God, than to accept honey-sweet support from
another man,” teaches the Talmud again (Eruvin 18b). “A craftsman who
studies Torah but simultaneously supports himself merits all the honor
and good in this world and in the world to come,” asserts Maimonides
(Laws of Talmud Torah 3:10).
Maimonides
sternly warns that “One who studies Torah professionally and fails to
work, counting on charity for a livelihood – desecrates God’s name,
shames the Torah, extinguishes the flame of religion, harms himself, and
abdicates his place in the world to come.... Torah that is not
accompanied by work has no staying power and inevitably draws one into
sin,” he continues. “As Rabbi Yehuda taught in the Talmud (ibid.), the
man who fails to learn a profession or to work will ultimately come to
steal from others.”
Yitzhak
Yosef’s worldview is extremely short-sighted in many other ways too. In
January 2020, and many times since, he has vehemently attacked
non-Jewish Russian immigrants to Israel and those Orthodox rabbis who
seek welcoming ways to convert some of them.
Rabbi
Yosef regularly disgorges foul invective in this regard, such as
calling Israeli olim from Russia “goyim who go to church every Sunday”;
or disparaging Jewish Agency officials who facilitate such aliyah as
“religion haters who seek to diminish the power of haredi parties in
Israeli politics”; or savaging religious-Zionist rabbis like Shlomo
Riskin, David Stav and David Bas as “Reform Jews” who conduct phony
“conveyor belt” conversions.
Were
Yitzhak Yosef to express himself in terms a bit more refined and less
defamatory, one might be able to relate to his criticism seriously. He
might usefully have sparked debate about the problems of bringing so
many Russian non-Jews to Israel and about parliamentary reconsideration
of the “grandchild clause” in the Law of Return (which is a central part
of the problem).
Were
Yitzhak Yosef to express himself in language befitting a Torah-true
religious Jew, never mind a “chief” rabbinical figure, and offer
constructive solutions of his own instead of just vituperation, it might
be possible to give him credit for seeking to defuse the enormous
demographic and societal time bomb posed by the current situation. But
no. Given his jaundiced view of Israeli society, Rabbi Yosef has no
strategy other than snarling at everybody outside his orbit.
In
contrast, Yosef’s counterpart, current Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel
David Lau, is a man of dialogue and pleasantness. Rabbi Lau also is no
rabbinical revolutionary and no great force for halachic moderation, but
still conducts himself with nobility and self-restraint.
In
sum, Yosef’s constant jeremiads make it clear that he has no business
being chief rabbi of Israel. With all due respect to his scholarship in
Jewish jurisprudence, and with all appropriate reverence to his
rabbinical seniority, the inescapable conclusion is that he should be
replaced forthwith.
Most
of all, the system for choosing Israel’s next chief rabbis, and the
criteria for becoming a chief rabbi, must be changed dramatically, long
before the next vote in 2023. Religious-Zionist commitment, a Torah
worldview that embraces broad education, the dignity of difference and a
fruitful problem-solving approach should be mandatory benchmarks. Let
Israel elect cosmopolitan and reasonable chief rabbis.
The author is vice president of the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security, jiss.org.il.