The death of Rabbi Ovadya Yoseph is a great loss to Jewish culture in Israel. Despite his controversial public statements, often covered by the Israeli media, Rabbi Yosef was the leader of a liberation movement. He reinstated the moderate Sephardic tradition to the broad Israeli public, brought back the Judaism that emphasized feelings of loyalty and pride, rather than those of shame and guilt. The establishment of “Shaas” (The Sephardic Orthodox political party), was the first to challenge the Eastern-European monopoly which dominated the cultural environment of Israel’s founding years. It is due solely to Rabbi Yosef that the Mizrachi and Sephardic accents and pronunciations became popular in the Israeli media, lacking the humiliation and disgrace that were amongst its characteristics. It is due to him that a Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) Zionistic Judaism existed. Today, An observant Sephardic public serves in the IDF, and takes part in the building and keeping of Israel as full rights and loyal citizens. Rabbi Yosef was a peace-seeking scholar, a man of tradition that preferred compromise over partial justice, religious customs intertwined in everyday practices, not closed Yeshivas. Much more there is to correct and act upon, like every revolution that creates a new world by building on the ruins of an old one.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Oct 2013 15:16:54 +0000