Israel’s Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef offers the hametz (food including leaven) of the state of Israel to an Arab Israeli, Mr. Jaber, before the upcoming Passover vacation in Jerusalem, April 21, 2024. (Photo: Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
The success of Israel’s defense versus rockets and other projectiles is credited to the prayers of ultra-Orthodox Torah trainees, instead of the IDF’s air defenses, states Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, among Israel’s 2 primary rabbis.
In a class on Saturday night, the Sephardic chief rabbi, popular for his inflammatory declarations, talked about the “wonder” of the low casualty rate arising from rocket attacks over the last a number of months.
“During the previous couple of months, it was stated to me that they shot 13,000 rockets on us from the north and the south. A large quantity. Countless rockets were contended us,” Rabbi Yosef stated.
“There must have been, God forbid, hundreds or countless casualties, however thank God, while there were a couple of individuals hurt – every Jewish soul is dear to us – however relative to what might have been, 13,000 rockets were gone for our state, thank God what wonders and marvels were provided for us.”
“Gentlemen, to whose benefit is this? The IDF chief of personnel’s benefit? To whose benefit? It’s thanks to the yeshiva trainees, who sit and hectic themselves with Torah, in their benefit God did wonders and marvels for us,” Yosef included.
The primary rabbi then attended to the response he got from the heads of hesder yeshivas, programs integrating innovative Talmudic research studies with military service, after he made comparable remarks recently.
“When I stated this a couple of weeks earlier, there were some heads of hesder yeshivas who assaulted us in the media, without pity. They talked to the nonreligious media. Such nerve [insolence]A few of the hesder yeshiva heads sent me letters, asking me to withdraw what I stated. I informed them there’s no chance I’m going to withdraw what I stated,” Yosef stated.
Trainees of the Torah “secure all the soldiers. They safeguard the whole of individuals of Israel. It remains in their benefit. Anybody who does not think this is a non-believer,” the rabbi included.
His remarks came amidst a continuous push for a brand-new IDF draft law that would control the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox Jews into the army. The present exemption, passed in June 2023, will end at the end of March, at which time the federal government is needed to impose the draft law for the ultra-Orthodox population.
Yosef alerted in March that mandatory preparing into the Israeli armed force would result in mass emigration of ultra-Orthodox Jews
“If they require us to sign up with the army, we will all emigrate,” Yosef alerted at the time. “We will purchase tickets; there is no such thing as requiring us into the army.”
He even more argued that the Torah makes up the structure of the State of Israel and its military forces.
“All these nonreligious individuals do not comprehend that without kollels and yeshivas, the army would not succeed,” Yosef stated. “The soldiers just are successful thanks to those finding out Torah.”
Yosef is the kid of the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who likewise acted as the chief Sephardic rabbi and the spiritual leader of the Shas political celebration, which has actually been a crucial union partner for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu throughout the years.
