Outgoing Rishon LeTzion Knocks High Court Judges as His Tenure Ends

By Hamodia Staff

The Sephardic Chief Rabbi, Rishon LeTzion Harav Yitzchak Yosef, shlita, who is expected to complete his term this week, delivered scathing criticism of the Supreme Court judges during his final weekly Motzoei Shabbos shiur in the Yazdim shul in Yerushalayim as Chief Rabbi and Rishon LeTzion. Harav Yosef condemned the judges for their lack of understanding of Yiddishkeit and their audacity to overturn a ruling of the Rabbinical Beit Din.

Harav Yosef referred to a case where the Supreme Court nullified a decision of the Rabbinical Beit Din regarding family law. He explained that he knew his psak contradicted Israeli law but clarified that he is guided solely by halachah according to the Torah, citing the passuk, “You shall not be afraid of any man.”

“A petition was submitted to the Supreme Court, and the Supreme Court immediately rebuked me for my ruling. So they overturned it, asserting their supremacy. We are the Rabbinical Beit Din. What is this? Why are they above us? Do they have any sensitivity to religion? I don’t need to tell you,” Harav Yosef said.

He went on to recall the times his father, Maran Harav Ovadia Yosef, zt”l, spoke about the judges: “Maran always spoke calmly, but when he spoke about the judges, he would tremble with anger and indignation. He was so strict with them and would say the harshest things about them.”

“I got rebuked,” continued Harav Yosef. “From whom? From secular judges who don’t know a single daf of Gemara?”

He added, “What do they know about life? They don’t even come close to the level of our Rabbanim. Should I be afraid of them? I should not be afraid of them! ‘You shall not be afraid of any man.’ We do what we can. We tried to change things, though we weren’t successful in everything.”

This is the second time Harav Yosef has referred to the Supreme Court ruling against the yeshivah students in recent days. Last week, the Rav said in an interview with HaDerech newspaper, affiliated with the Shas party: “The bnei Torah are the reason for Israel’s existence, that’s what kept us alive through the generations. But the judges don’t understand that, they’re victims of their own making who don’t understand what saved the people of Israel. Without the Torah, we have no right to exist, and certainly no right to the land of Israel.”

Harav Yosef will conclude his term at the same time as Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Harav David Lau. Their replacements have not yet been chosen, but they will have interim successors. Elections are set to be held in August.

Harav Eliezer Igra will preside as the president of the Rabbinical Beit Din, and Harav Yaakov Roza, the Chief Rabbi of Bat Yam, will head the Rabbinic council.