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Photo: Niv Rosenberg
Amar (right) with Yosef
Photo: Niv Rosenberg

The heir

Delivering his sermon, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef confessed: 'I am not all that well.' On passing the throne in the SHAS leadership of the Sephardim

It is no longer a secret now: Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, leader of this Sephardic generation, has marked Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, as his successor and heir. The move was being designed for a while now, but the clearest indication of it was given last Tuesday at a Torah scholars' conference in Jerusalem.

 

Rabbi Ovadia arrived there two hours after the event started, when the hall was already packed with hundreds of Sephardic yeshiva students and the entire SHAS leadership. It was one of the rare public appearances by Rabbi Ovadia ever since he was released from Hadassah Hospital, where his heart was catheterized some six months ago.

 

Before delivering the main speech of the evening, Rabbi Joshua Vizgan received his mentor with Torah passages. After he blessed Rabbi Ovadia for "taking the trouble to attend and, despite his great weakness, chose to honor us with his presence in this conference," he delivered his sermon, which dealt with one of the most famous Passover Halakic rules concerning the honor of scholars, associating it with the rabbi's presence.

 

When he cleared the stage for the guest of honor, the air the hall became thick with anticipation for the rabbi's words. "In honor of my soul mate, beloved and dear chief rabbi of Israel, the Rishon LeZion, Our Rabbi Shlomo Moshe Amar, may he live long and well, amen."

 

These were the first words of Rabbi Ovadia's sermon. Choosing the title "Our Rabbi" - a title only he is addressed with in the SHAS circles - the man viewed as the ruler of the generation by himself and his believers gave his permission to Rabbi Amar to have the honor of succeeding him on the throne of his spiritual and Halakic leadership in due time.

 

After he turned to and blessed the other rabbis who were sitting at the table of honor, "each by his degree and respect," and before delivering his sermon, the rabbi apologized for being brief because "I am not all that well," relating that which everyone had known.

 

In recent month, the masses that follow him were deeply concerned with his wellbeing. Questions on the day after are considered taboo, but the fact that Rabbi Ovadia made a pessimistic reference to his own state of health, and for the first time in public, elicited very concerned voices in the crowd, which were immediately hushed so as not to interrupt the rabbi's sermon. Rabbi Ovadia chose to discuss the rules of saying the Hallel on Passover, and left the hall after speaking for some 20 minutes.

 

Another hint of the directions things are heading was given last weekend. The weekend supplement of the SHAS daily "Yom LeYom" (Day to Day) carried a picture of Rabbi Ovadia and Rabbi Amar holding hands. The caption read: "Blessed is the eye that saw." Below, appeared a picture of Rabbi Itzhak Yosef, whom his father grooms for the post of Jerusalem rabbi.

 

Ever since he started teaching the Torah in his childhood neighborhood of Bet Israel in Jerusalem, the Yosef family knew that the father of the family has become a public figure, committed to it perhaps more than to his family. The parliamentary activities of the SHAS Party serve as a tool for the expansion of the physical boundaries to which the Halakic teachings of Rabbi Ovadia could be poured, based on Rabbi Yosef Karo's "Habayit Yosefi."

 

Ever since Rabbi Ovadia's health deteriorated, he has rarely left his house and his family and doctors have been watching him closely, like you would an etrog or a precious piece of Jewish art. He is constantly accompanied by Dr Johanan Stassman, who spends equal amounts of time in the Yosefs Har-Nof neighborhood house and the Geriatric Department of Hadassah Hospital.

 

Dr. Stassman instructed the rabbi to avoid any activities that require unnecessary physical effort. Promises to attend meetings and conferences are cast in deep doubt. The rabbi stopped making his traditional, Saturday night appearances at the Yazdim Synagogue, and instead delivers his weekly sermons from his home, via satellite, to thousands of viewers and listeners over the religious radio stations and the Maran Internet site. The customary "pilgrimage" to his house, that was to be held over Passover, as every year, was cancelled.

 

The level of tension in the rabbi's house became palpable some 10 days ago, when an ambulance was rushed there after the rabbi coughed unusually hard during morning prayer. The rabbi recovered and the ambulance was sent back, but only after Prof Stassman was urgently summoned there to examine him.

 

Enclosed in his home, Rabbi Ovadya still has an impact on Israel's public life. He receives constant updates on SHAS activities at the Knesset and other topical issues. He tends to rule and issue guidelines on political matters. For example, he supports Shimon Peres as presidential candidate. Public issues that call for Halakic review are delivered to Rabbi Amar. Everything else is pushed away from the door on 45 Hakablan St.

 

Why was Amar chosen?

Marked as heir, Rabbi Amar humbly accepts his rabbi's orders. After he completes writing his rulings on issues he was asked to address, Amar reports to Ovadia's house to honor him as ruler of the generation who has the final word.

 

Rabbi Ovadia spent a lifetime struggling against the Ashkenazi Halakic elite and established his rulings on the right to make Halakic allowances. In that, he views Amar as his successor. Thanks to Rabbi Ovadia's extensive backing, Amar has been gaining status, standing out from among other prominent Sephardi rabbis such as Mordechai Eliahu or Bakshi-Doron, who served as chief rabbis before the younger Amar, or even the sons of Ovadia himself.

 

Attorney David Glass, an associate of Rabbi Ovadia, admitted that the rabbi has never trusted anyone the way he has confidence in Rabbi Amar, whom he holds in great esteem and views as "a real Torah sage." Glass noted that the SHAS leader was very active before Rabbi Amar was elected chief rabbi, saying that he feels Amar is more than just a potential successor, though "no one talks about this."

 

Glass explained why Rabbi Ovadia prefers Amar over Rabbis Eliahu and Bakshi-Doron: "Rabbi Eliahu is very strict on matrimonial issues and everyone is familiar with their rivalry, and Rabbi Bakshi-Doron has also often taken an independent path that led to disputes." Rabbis Ovadia and Amar also see eye-to-eye on political issues, maintaining moderate views. Attorney Glass related that Rabbi Amar encourages rabbis to meet with Muslim clergy and personally attends such meetings, "though this is not published."

 

Journalist Anshil Peper, who together with reporter Nitzan Hen wrote Rabbi Ovadia's biography "Maran", said that "Rabbi Amar stands out for a quality that is not found among the Rabbi Ovadia's own sons or other prominent Sephardi clergy: unlike all of them, Amar comes from a simple family, from a town of immigrants. He established himself in the rabbinical world with his own two hands." In that, he reminds Rabbi Ovadia of himself and like him, Peper said, Amar is connected with the simple Sephardi public, including those who are not fully observant.

 

It is still hard to appreciate his real standing in the Halakic world. While dealing with complicated and disputed issues such as the conversion of the Ethiopian Falashmura to Judaism or complex matrimonial matters, Rabbi Amar does seem to be able to withstand pressures from the Ashkenazi wing.

 

He lost points last November, however, when he chose to heed the instructions of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, leader of the Lithuanian current, and canceled his planned appearance at a conference that women's organizations arranged in an attempt to find Halakic solutions for women whose husbands abandoned or refuse to divorce them.

 


פרסום ראשון: 04.02.07, 12:42
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