no, mr yosef, one does that out of niceness. and we thank those friends who were nice to us this purim.

Harav Yosef: Instead of sending packages to gentiles you can send them to all the shas MKs in jail for stealing our money.

The Rabbi explained why ON THIS DAY Jews should give presents to each other rather to fellow gentiles, and why using this Holiday as an excuse to become drunk and disorderly is against what the Torah intended. whats wrong with that?

" They get drunk and then take the bus and act in a rowdy manner – that is defamation of God," he said. umm and some Shas MKs steal money, commit acts of fraud and corruption and end up in jail. Any comment on that one your holliness ?

Oh look! Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has come to the Purim party as a condescending bitter kill-joy. Maybe he should take off his silly hat, crack open a bottle of wine and get sloshed - then he could see the fun side of Purim. Don't knock it until you've tried it.

if they did, as gentiles, we wouldn't benefit from their generosity this holiday. there's something to be said for being nice to your fellow human beings without qualification.

" and called on the public to donate to the institutions where the Torah was being taught. UMM If i remember Arieh Deri did that only he stole the money from public funds - ooops still whats a few years in Jail when your a Shass Mk ?

He dresses up like its purim all the year.............wonder what his costume is on Purim.?

This years get up is prision garb ............so that we can remember all the shasnicks in the pen and all those Shassy babies that are going to the pen.And of coure all those shassies that have been in the pen. Very "Deering" rather like showing a bit of "cleavage"?

Judaism needs pontificating so-called spiritual leaders like Iran needs its ayatollahs. I look forward to the time when kohanim, not rabbis, resume symbolic leadership.

ABdominable ,abhorhibable ..whatever.I am so drunk writing this that I can not tell if I have a frontal Labotomy or a bottle in front of me..

Thanks, has a really good laugh.

Traditionally we are encouraged to get plastered and blind drunk on Purim .Now, the good Rabbi says no .I have just drunk a whole bottle of vodka, half a bottle of whisky and some rum and some gin and some beer..all for nought.

First of all, you guys should at least treat a Rav that spent so long studying like a mentsch. Its his opinion. You could Chas ve Shalom- where not everyones Jewish, make a HUGE Chillul H' being Drunk on Purim. Acting like an idiot with a kippah. If you live in Mea Shearim on the other hand, Have fun. Point Being, Ovadias right, dont make a fool out of yourself, i'd go the middle way and at least be responsible of where i go after i drink etc. have an awesome purim :D

Rabbi Yosef is our greatest posek giving halacha according to the tradition of our sefardic fathers. But I guess you must be to uneducated to grab it.

Cut him some slack. If you've ever been in Bene Beraq during Purim you'd see the point. It's OK to drink alcohol in limits but it is a certainly a problem when a whole street looks like a war zone because some individuals get totally drunk and entertain half of the neighborhood all night long with boorish chants and pitiful behavior. It's good to see that Rav Yosef is aware of this and doesn't mince words. Don't forget that his target audience will listen to him.

hahahaha we all know jewish people drink and bless it doesn't mean people will turn drunk, even in bible times, the Gat was very popular meating area, as key economic place in the ancient world(besides the purfumes bussiness), they found so many Israel, even in the old testament the wine industry was bluming, this clown go against every thing the bible stands for the bible allow drinking but with moderation and that what he forgot to mention it's ok to drink but not to oblivion.

Ah yes, the stinging rebuke of being "to uneducated", or indeed "two uneducated". I am all for people devoted themselves to halacha and rendering learned opinions. To my mind it is totally unJewish to assume the role of an "authority", allowing one invariably to get drunk on power and which encourages others not to engage their own critical functions. The correct and original hierarchy of Judaism is that the kohanim are the spiritual leaders, by example and by ritual, rather than by didactic pronouncements. To see anyone, whether Ovadia Yosef or the Lubavitcher Rebbe, as anything other than an eminently fallible subject of the Almighty, is idolatry, pure and simple. Every time an "authority" stands up to make a pronouncement which runs the risk of characterising him as such, eg by telling people what to do rather than by providing a qualified analysis , he encourages others to suspend their own mainline to God little differently in principle than were he, or his proscriptions, a graven image. Live long and prosper, NOT idolise.

When I was hearing Rabbi Spiritual Leader Yosef I was naively thinking that he's drunk. Now I believe he......... wasn't!

"A man that is drunk – what good is he?" You don't know? Noah would take offense. You say a man must "take a rest, rise up and practice religion throughout the day." Torah says Six days you shall work" and it is TORAH laws not "religion" that one must do as their tephilin on their hands (not by their heart Yehzkeil 13) and between their eyes (not on the third eye forhead the window to the soul?). You say "donate to the institutions where the Torah was being taught" but they are not teaching Torah there and go figure you would want money. "Israel were rescued by the Torah" No they certainly are condemmed by it if they don't do it and Moshe said we would not do it for we were a stiff necked people. His prophecy. If you do it G-d will rescue you. The Torah is not a golden cow object that rescues. There is no rescuer but the hand of G-d. Besides G-d rescued the Hebrews and then AFTERWARDS he gave them Torah. So there was no Torah rescuing in Mitzraim. Holding a Torah in a religious celebration but not reading it correctly while learning illegal additions and performative magic incantations, is a sure ticket to never be rescued. EVER! History teaches of of how much your practices rescue Jews. Oppressed by cult. The new Hebrews who were as prophecy stated- returned on the roads to slavery. Oh but Rabbi forbid we say this truth. Charim is the outlaw of saying the prophecy was fullfilled. Learned? Ha!