Israel – Shas’ spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, slammed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in his weekly sermon Saturday evening, referring to the Iranian president as “Haman of our generation” and saying that he “can go to hell”.
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The rabbi, who dedicated his address to Jewish laws related to the holiday of Purim, spoke about the followers of Haman, the grand vizier of Persia. “In every generation we have Hamans,” he said. “Now we have a new Haman in Persia, threatening us with his nukes.”
He went on to curse the Iranian leader, using verses from the Bible.
In the halachic part of his sermon, Rabbi Yosef ruled that Sephardic students in Ashkenazi yeshivot should not take part in the prayer quorum on the Saturday before Purim in order to read the “Zachor” Torah portion separately, according to their custom.
He explained that listening to the verses, which discuss Amalek’s war on Israel, is a Torah mitzvah and therefore each person must do it according to the common pronunciation in their own community.
Rabbi Yosef did not miss an opportunity to tease the Ashkenazim. After imitating the way they read that Torah portion, he said, “The Sephardim’s pronunciation is the real one. Their accent is wrong.
But they insist. They’re stubborn… They don’t want to change. Even their Ashkenazim testify that our pronunciation is the right one, the truth.”
Rabbi Yosef’s position is not new.
I Don’t know why he has the guts to make fun of the
Ashkenazi Yuden they also have a mesora
I wonder why Sephardim always feel so downtrodden? I’ve seen Sephardic shuls, but never an “Ashkenazic” shul. Does it have something to do with Sephardim feeling that they’re discriminated against?
Same with their minhagim. Why the need to say which is correct? Can’t we just each have our own mesorah? The only possible nafka mina, as R’ Reisman has pointed out, is for a ger, ie, which minhagim should a ger accept. Short of that, it doesn’t seem relevant to talk about which mesorah is the “correct” one.
The Munkash Rebbe was right .
There are many Teshuvos on this topic….stop trying so hard to make him sound radical
Im דן לכף זכות that he didnt say that. We know from chazal that the shevotim in the time of the bais hamikdash had different dialects! Mesorah is mesorah! Ashkeneizim are correct; and so are Sefardim!…….
Ashkenazi Yuden do not have a real mesora of the how to pronounce the only ashkenazi who can trace their minhagim back more than 400 years are the german jews who’s community has been there for over 1000 years, sefardim have been there since the time of the gemora
I love this Rabbi for having the guts to say what he believes in public.
the truth is we lost our mesora of pronunciation.. noone does the dagesh chazaks in the gimel and dalet, noone knows wat a kamatz koton is.. nebach we dont even have a language we can identify with……
I’m not sure why some call him “Chacham Ovadia” since over the past few years he seems to be making statements every other week that insult some branch of klal yisroel or cast doubt on minhagim and psak torahs that we have live by for centuries. Maybe its time for the rab to retire gracefully.
It’s about time the ashkenazic yeshivishe velt get a taste of their own medicine. For decades, the yeshivishe forbade any other pronunciation other than their own corrupt “oi”. Now the shoe is on the other foot and it fits.
Of course, two wrongs do not make a right, and Rav Ovadiah’s psak is silly and divisive.
I believe that Rav Yosef is just trying to keep the Morrocan Kehillah from disintegrating. Apparently he must be tremendously concerned that his Kehillah is dissolving. What a shame. This is a time for achdus. I learned that Chazal teach that in Gan Eden the Tzaddikim will gather around HKBH in a circle. A circle because although each Tzaddik relates to HKBH differently, each is equally placed around the circle with HKBH at the center. So should it be with each Kehillah’s mesorah.
In my yeshiva in Israel we always read parshas zachor numerous times (ashkenaz, sephardi, teimani, etc.) this was already years ago – I don’t think this is anything new.
The Teimanim say that their havara is the true one. So now what? Anyway as a Ashkenazi I have to give Rav Yosef credit for having the best sense of humor of all the Gedolim! Happy Purim!
The Teimanim say that their havara is the true one. So now what? Anyway as a Ashkenazi I have to give Rav Yosef credit for having the best sense of humor of all the Gedolim! Happy Purim!
The real truth is even the sefardim dont have it right since they dont make a difference between a komatz and pathach (which by the shem adne could chas veshalom have a plural meaning)and between tzeirei and segol.They also dont differentiate between a taf with a dagesh and without .It seems the ashkenazim had it more down path once upon atime but they didnt live in a semetic speeking culture and things got even more messed up.
the only ones that have it really down path are the teimanim.
& then you force the schools in Emanuel to keep Sefardim & Ashkenazim in one class, to change it to the sefardi way, & those who don’t attend school you want the parents arrested. BTW the Ashkenazim made the school, the Sefardim sued, Rabbi Yosef’s sermon should have been used in the defence or at least an appeal.
Poor ol’ Rabbi Yossef. He is a true godol and one of the greatest talmidei chachamim in the world and the undisputed world leader of Acheinu b’nei S’fard. Heren are a couple of topics he considers so important that they must have world-wide publicity.
1. Glass breaking at chupas and when to say (or not say) mazel tov.
2. His opinion of Iran’s “president”. He must be terrified.
3. The havoroh for k’ria of parshas zochor. All the great rebbes. The g’dolei Hungary. The g’dolei Lita incuding the Gra, Chassam Sofer, Baal Shem Tov etc. etc. all got it wrong. Thanks to him we will all not be nechshal anymore.
4. Various pronouncements re military and international processes.
And there are plenty more.
Perhaps the time has come for him to retire gracefully.
I don’t think this is anything new. In my yeshiva, we had one minyan for Ashkenazim and one minyan for Sephardim when there was a chiyuv such as this. I have seen it and heard of it in other places as well, so I don’t see why Rav Yosef’s comments are such a chiddush.
Does not sound like much of a leader to me. Look how the Chovetz Chaim led Klal Yisroal and then compare.
For those who do not say “oi” for “oh”, there havarah is essentially like the German one which goes pretty far back, too. Not to mention that the sefardi havarah was also likely influenced by the Arab lands that hosted them.
While the “corrupt oi” of the (yeshivish) askenazim may be just that (note that both Germans and Sefardim say (a form of) “oh”, though the German version is more like “ow”), the common Sefardi pronunciation, seems removed from the real thing, too.
Why exactly do Sefardim pronounce the kamatz and patach identically? Incidentally, if an Ashkenazi were to pronounce the shem Hashem like a Sedfardi does then he’d be saying kefirah. “Adon” and then “ai” with a patach, means my Masters, plural, which is kefirah, whereas “Adon” and then “uy” means my Master, singular.
While I did not hear Rav Ovadiah’s shiur and anyways wouldn’t comment on it as I wouldn’t want to possibly argue with a Rav and talmid chacham, these are how the facts seem to me.
Rav Ysef is a genius, a photo memeory. That doesn’t make him into a tzaddik, like rav moshe zt”l was for example, and let’s not forget he heads a political party that were it not for shas, there never wouldve been the oslo accords.
His history of outrageous statements “lignusson shel yisroel disqualify hhim from being a true leader. Everyone knows this, but to say anything close to the truth will bring down physical violence from the wild animals who revere him. Those who know anything, know I’m spot on.
I have absoloutly no respect at all for this talmudic genius.
The only concern I have with this is that the article, did not mention the circumstance where withdrawal by the Sefardim would leave too few men for a minyan at all. Perhaps this is not a problem in Israel. I have enjoyed davening with a mixed minyan, where neither group could have created one of it’s own.
Since I want to look up to Tzadikim to learn from them, I want to know, is this a man I should learn from?
Instead of bringing yidden together, he seems to be an expert on how to throw up ever bigger walls and barriers between yidden. Our various minhogim are beautiful, and it is beautiful to see when yidden with varied minhagim respect each other’s tradition.
But from this GADOL I’ll I see over and over again is how to divide Jews.
As they used to say about the Brisker Rov, when he talked about the Megillah, we can say the same thing about Parshas Zochor…
“What’s this business about hearing Parshas Zochor again and again all day?!
…. 5 or 6 times is enough!”
How do you suppose Moshe Rabbeinu pronounced the mitzvos/t on Har Sinai?
Hey Everyone,
Lighten up. You have to realize the style of middle-eastern speaking is full of over the top words.
So what if he makes fun of Ashkenazim; we all need a hobby.
Seriously, though, he did not say that Ashkenazim should listen to a Sephardic reading. I think that he is expressing pride for his mesorah, and wants Sephardim to feel proud of their own. He method is over-the-top.
Oy, wants to say a BROOCHE?
Reply to # 1 . R’ Yosef ha s a great sense of humor. He is quoted as saying : B ” H sh’lo Usani ashkenaz .
Todays regular sefardi havarah which has been changed to modern hebrew is no more authentic than anything else (listen to any old morrocan,syrian or Iraqi yid and you will see the huge diffrence not just the teimani)
So I think the Rav should be busy getting the sefardi kehilla to get their mesoirah back to what it was originally and not be so busy with the ashkenazim
TheDo the ashkenazim pronounce “Ahmadinejad” as “”Ahmawdinegawd”?
Reply to # 4 . Could you, please , elaborate .
to quote the Baba Sali when “Rabbi” ovadia tried to critcize the Chabad Rebbe, “It is like a fly trying to take down an eagle.” Where did all the REAL sephardic rabbis go? Rav Eliyahu should have a Refuah Shelema and take over from this man, granted he knows alot of Torah. But reading his “drashas” every week is sickening hate speech.
I don’t want to get involved in this argument, except to say, How about all posters showing derech eretz for ALL gedolim of ALL segments of klal Yisroel? Respecting the great talmidei chachamim of other kehillos does NOT diminish the kavod of your own eidah; l’hefech, it does honor to the group you belong to, to show that you act like a mentch to others!
By the way, a revered Historia teacher zt”l in Bais Yaakov Seminary in the ’60’s–an Ashkenaz talmid chochom in an Ashkenaz school that welcomed frum girls of all backgrounds (Litvish, Hungarian, Polish, Satmar, Lubavitch, etc.,and probably any Sefardim who applied)–taught us that the proper response to the breaking of the glass at the end of a chuppah is “Zeh ha’os”–meaning, this is the siman to remind us of the destruction of the Bais Hamikdosh (May it be rebuilt speedily in our day). So immediately after hearing the crunch and splintering of the glass, and before joining the chorus of “Mazel Tovs” at a wedding, I always say this quietly.
To sum up: Genug machlokes! E-mail with derech eretz!
stop making an issue into a tissue,i am sure u are yotzeh which ever way u heard it
just like if someone cursed u with a british , german, or spanish accent u would get the idea okkkkkkkkkkkkk
I am tired of hearing these opinions as to whose M’soiroh became the least adulterated by virtue of expulsions and non-Jewish influences.
L’maaseh there is no Nafko Minoh L’halocho, even it it makes for a nice discussion.
The fact is, like it or not, M’soiroh is all that matters (even if we can’t differentiate between an Aleph and an Ayin or don’t differentiate between a Gimmel and a Dalet with and without a Dogeish Kal.)
A number years ago, I heard something interesting on this topic, which, I would like to share. That is, there is textual proof that the Anshei K’neses Hag’doiloh pronounced Hebrew in an Yeshivishe Havoroh.
During Shabbos Shacharis, we say Yismach Moishe.
Please notice the “rhyme”: Yismach Moishe B’matnas Chelkoi, Ki Eved Ne’emon Koroso Loi, K’lil Tiferes B’roishoi Nosato Loi, B’omdoi L’fonecho Al Har Sinoi U’shnei Luchois Avonim Hoirid B’Yodoi
(Chelkoi, Loi, Loi, Sinoi and B’yodoi all rhyme — only in a Yeshivishe Havoroh.)
Just one quick example of what is wrong with the popular Ashkenazi pronunciation of Hebrew:
The word SHABBAT (שַבָת) has a Kamatz under the letter Beth that is mispronounced as if it were a Hirik (ִ).
The result is SHABBIS (wrong) instead of SHABBAS (correct).