Jerusalem – Several thousand people turned out in Jerusalem for a memorial service marking the end of the thirty day period of mourning for Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who acted as the spiritual leader and ultimate authority of the Shas movement.
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The memorial rally was an opportunity for Shas chairman Arye Deri to continue to mend bridges and soothe bruised egos within the party by granting political rival Eli Yishai an opportunity to eulogise Yosef publicly which he had hitherto not had an opportunity to do.
At a memorial service at the end of the Shiva period of mourning seven days after Yosef died, Yishai was conspicuously omitted from the list of people who eulogised the rabbi.
Yishai, the former party chairman who Deri elbowed aside earlier this year, made full use of his platform and delivered a passionate but dignified tribute to Yosef with whom he was close personally, speaking articulately and with eloquence of the departed rabbi
And rising to the podium, Yishai was even treated to appreciative applause from the crowd.
“Every moment we miss the rabbi, every day we miss him. The Jewish people misses him,” he said. “The void he has has left is huge, the fracture [in our lives] is terrible,” he continued, saying that he felt the rabbi’s passing and absence on a personal level as well and missed praying with and taking advice from Yosef.
“There are no words to describe the rabbi’s absence, there are no words to describe the lack of understanding and the lack of leadership for the path [ahead],” Yishai declared.
Speaking at the end of the memorial rabbi was Yosef’s son and Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.
He spoke of his father’s dedication to Torah study and how at every opportunity, even during his final weeks when he was in hospital, would open a book of Jewish law to learn from it.
Yitzhak Yosef also declared that the Knesset was disrespecting the chief rabbinate by passing laws without consultation with the institution, mentioning recent legislation on marriage and conversion which has been passed or is shortly to be presented to the Knesset.
He carried continued by appealing to the assembled crowd to honor his father by dedicating more time to Torah study and specifically to learn from the works written by Yosef himself, in order to continue his legacy.
“Eat quickly on Friday night, sing just a few songs and then go and study,” said Yosef.
Among the other speakers at the rally were Rabbi Baruch Abuhatzeira, son of the famed Kabbalist Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira, known as the Babi Sali, Rabbi Yitzhak David Grossman the founder and dean of Migdal Ohr educational institutions, and Rabbi Yehuda Deri, chief municipal rabbi of Be’ersheva and brother of Shas chairman Arye Deri.
Last week, Deri and Yishai held a face to face meeting in order to ease tensions which had been building since Yosef’s death last month.
A public attack by Deri on Yishai in a TV interview two weeks ago led to unprecedented public criticism of the party chairman by Shas MKs Nissim Ze’ev and Yaakov Margi, which in turn prompted Deri to patch things up with Yishai in an attempt to preserve party unity and prevent further infighting.
In addition, two weeks ago Deri met with Rabbi Tzion Boaron, a rabbinical judge who sites on the Supreme Rabbinical Court who ran as a candidate for Sephardi Chief Rabbi back in July against Yosef’s son, Shas candidate, and ultimate victor, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.
Boaron was heavily backed by former chief rabbi Shlomo Amar who was furious with Deri for undermining his efforts to be re-elected as chief rabbi.
And Deri has in recent weeks also sought to repair his relationship, as well as that of
Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
We miss you Maran!
I doubt very much Rav Ovadia, Z’tl, would have agreed with his son’s advice to to rush through Shabbos dinner on Friday night, sing one or two zmiros and then run off from the family to learn from one of the rav’s seforim. For most sehphardeshe yiddin who work hard during the week to earn a parnassah, Friday night dinner is really the only time during the week the family is together and Rav Yosef would have wanted them to have a leisurely meal, have the father talk to the kids about what they learned in Yeshiva that week, what else was going on in their lives and generally spend some quality time together singing and experiencing menuchas Shabbos. Rushing off to learn would have been frowned upon, even if the destination was one of the rav’s own seforim