By Nechemia Meyers
Most Israelis were outraged by the latest brainwave of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who attributed the damage done by Hurricane Katrina to American support for the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and to the fact that the African-Americans of New Orleans weren’t studying Torah.
But Ovadia Yosef has admirers elsewhere, among a group of extreme antisemites whose official organ is the Historical Review Press. A typical issue contains an article about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, ‘the Communist Dictator,’ pieces on ‘the alleged Holocaust’ and ‘the alleged gas chambers,’ and a piece debunking ‘the myth of German Culpability for the Second World War.’ And the leading article in that issue is devoted to Ovadia Yosef’s ‘words of wisdom.’
It is understandable that the Historical Review Press, devoted to denigrating Jews, should quote him. Less understandable is the fact that Yosef is still respected by some circles in Israel and commands the loyalty of 11 Knesset members, representatives of Shas.
His word is their command – quite literally. And since Shas controls some 10 per cent of the Knesset seats, most politicians from other parties try to ingratiate themselves to Ovadia Yosef, and avoid ridiculing him, even when his statements are particularly weird.
The usual reaction of his apologists is that he was misquoted or that his remarks were taken out of context. Neither explanation is very convincing when you hear him say, for example, that leftist Yossie Sarid, with whom he feuded over financing religious education, is like Haman and should suffer the same fate.
Less fateful but more amusing are his rulings on wigs for women (no, they look too natural) and reading a newspaper in the toilet (not if it is written in Hebrew). The Anti-Defamation League gets a lot of mileage out of Ovadia Yosef, who is a frequent subject of ADL press releases. The most recent one describes remarks by Yosef on the causes of Hurricane Katrina as “outrageous in the extreme.” It goes on to declare that “Rabbi Yosef’s remarks show a profound lack of empathy for the suffering of others, not to mention an extremely warped worldview. It it is disturbing,” the release declares, “that a man of faith would use human suffering and loss to advance a political agenda. We hope that religious leaders in Israel will condemn his words as insensitive and beyond the acceptable limit for a national dialogue.”
Though there were plenty of Orthodox Jews who were put off by Ovadia Yosef’s remarks, no Orthodox rabbi, to the best of my knowledge, has stepped forward to publicly condemn them.
Most politicians also avoid confronting Yosef when he attacks them. Thus Prime Minister Ariel Sharon remained silent after, Yosef, last March, declared that God would strike dead “the evil one” (namely Sharon) who evacuates Israelis from the Gaza Strip.
Beyond punishment are the six million Jews killed in the Holocaust, who, according to Yosef, were the reincarnation of sinners of previous generations.
Illustration: Masthead of Historical Review Press
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