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Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. 'Torah belongs to all of Israel'
Photo: Guy Assayag

Rabbi Yosef: Ashkenazim think Torah is theirs

Prominent rabbi stresses in his weekly sermon that Torah has no sectoral affiliation. 'They think the Torah is theirs? No! The Torah belongs to all of Israel,' he says

In his weekly Saturday evening sermon, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef attacked the Ashkenazi-haredi public and claimed, "They think the Torah belongs to them." According to Rabbi Yosef, the Torah of Israel is not sectoral and therefore is not "biased" in this way.

 

"There is no sectoral affiliation in the Torah," said the rabbi. "What does it matter if it’s a Persian, a Halabi, if it's a Babylonian or a Tunisian? There is no such thing! There is one Torah – one law."

 

Rabbi Yosef added, "This is the Torah of all of Israel. 'Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.' It is not written 'the assembly of Halabim;' it is not written 'the assembly of Babylonians' and not 'the assembly of Ashkenazim.' It is not written 'the assembly of Ashkenazim.' They think the Torah is theirs? No! The Torah belongs to all of Israel."

 

Last month, the rabbi also addressed the Ashkenazi-Sephardic tensions over halachic rulings, and claimed that the Messiah will rule in favor of Sephardic customs. During his weekly class on Saturday night, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef addressed the halacha for blowing the ram's horn on the High Holidays, as well as the varying customs between Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews.

 

The rabbi emphasized that each person must stick to the customs of his father's house, but claimed that when the Messiah comes, everyone will follow the Sephardic customs.

 

The rabbi said, "We cannot determine that we were correct until the Messiah comes and will make us one people. Only the Messiah can do this… When Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will rise up in the revival of the dead, what will they say? They will start to say they were from Halabim, from Aleppo." Rabbi Ovadia claimed that the Ashkenazi method of pronunciation will also give way to the Sephardic pronunciation, and the Ashkenazis will "be reformed."

 


פרסום ראשון: 10.18.09, 16:34
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