Is Rabbi Ovadia Yosef being told the truth?
I have mentioned on numerous occasions that Shas is being pressured to leave the Olmert-Barak-Livni junta and yet it continues to stay ostensibly because its spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (pictured, top left), keeps telling it to do so. But what if Rabbi Yosef is not being told the truth about the government's actions? What if Shas' politicians - out of greed or hubris or for whatever other reason - are misleading Rabbi Yosef as to what is really going on in the negotiations with the 'Palestinians?' Rabbi Meir Mazuz, a prominent Sephardic Rabbi and Torah scholar from Bnei Brak argues that is exactly what is happening, and in a letter to Shas' politicians he urges them to tell Rabbi Yosef the truth and leave the government. The sharply worded letter by Rabbi Mazuz, head of the Kisei Rachamim yeshiva in Bnei Brak, demands that Shas immediately quit the government. He also says that the Shas MKs must present to Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef - a former Chief Sephardic Rabbi and the spiritual leader of Shas - the "true and complete data regarding the diplomatic processes the government is weaving, which are damaging to the status of Jerusalem and bring closer the uprooting of the communities of Judea and Samaria."I can confirm one thing: the construction story may well be true. My neighborhood - which shall remain unnamed as usual - is over the 'green line' but well within the city limits. Rumor has it that while construction is continuing apace for buildings within the neighborhood, it has stopped for an area that is an extension of the neighborhood. And I can tell you that a project to build a school across the street from where my daily Talmud class takes place has ground to a halt in the last week and all of the equipment has been removed. So it may well be that construction within Jerusalem has been stopped. Not to mention the large project to build ultra-Orthodox housing in Givat Zev, just northeast of the city, which I can confirm unequivocally has been stopped.
"We hear daily," Rabbi Mazuz writes, "from reliable sources that construction in Jerusalem has been stopped, and that [the government] has already (secretly) sold to the enemy many communities around Jerusalem. The situation has become 'Jerusalem is surrounded by enemies (tzarim in Hebrew)' [a reference to the Psalms 125:2 'Jerusalem is surrounded by mountains (harim in Hebrew)].'"
Rabbi Mazuz also makes reference to reliable reports that "the residents of Judea and Samaria are being designated for an expulsion, Heaven forbid, that will be 20 times more horrific than the terrible scenes we saw in Gush Katif - the wounds of which have not yet healed even now. And atop all this, we have Kassams falling upon our brothers in Sderot day in and day out - as if we are decreed to be destroyed and decimated, Heaven forbid, as in the days of Haman."
The letter acerbically attacks Prime Minister Olmert and Defense Minister Barak for "not doing anything, except for a targeted killing here and there every two months and then they go on to other things - and you [Shas] remain silent?!"
"Why do you not relay the whole truth to our master the renowned Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef, and quit the government immediately? Get up and take action - and the sooner the better, for our existence depends on it!"
Rabbi Mazuz signs the letter by stating, "I am speaking with all my heart."
How long will Shas' leaders pretend that Jerusalem is not being negotiated?
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:30 AM
4 Comments:
Maybe the Rabbi needs to do his own Web research and not rely on the word of politicians. I can see it's possible that they might be telling him to ignore all the reports out there about what is really going on, but in that case he ought to ignore _them_ instead.
Carl - my guess is Shas will remain in the government as long as it be paid off. When the government decides to cut off the spigot, the party will leave. Given that construction activity within Jerusalem has been ground to a halt, by the time does leave, it may be too late to save Jerusalem.
Ehud Olmert says there is no construction freeze in and around the Jerusalem but reports on the ground speak otherwise. If Shas wants to believe Olmert's lies, they shouldn't be surprised when the division of Jerusalem is a fait accompli. No one can say they weren't warned.
Stop being naive. Everything comes from numero uno.
When in Jewish history's past were political expediencies to grab money, at the cost of 1000s of dead and injured, called "Da'at Torah"?
Half of $HA$'s goons have been hauled into court or thrown into jail.
Any truly humble leader would have stepped down and placed his head in shame in a dark corner for the remainder of his life after bringing one calamity after another upon Clal Yisrael.
Yosef is naked, for all to see.
I strongly doubt lack of information is the problem.
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