News from Israel: Within
the past hour, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has passed away. The news headlines will, no doubt, be full of
biographicals and eulogies for him.
I am saddened by his passing, although, at age 93, his
demise can hardly be characterized as untimely.
Most of what he did was very salutary to the State of Israel
and to the Jewish people as a whole.
But
he was not perfect or infallible.
Specifically, he did, figuratively speaking, manage to get his
tallit soiled from his
entanglement with the Shas political party, which, for all of its positive
works, had and has more than its fair share of corruption.
More problematic is that the Shas party in Israel, with the implicit approval if
not at the explicit direction of Rabbi Yosef as its spiritual leader,
officially abstained but unofficially gave occasional support for the Oslo
Agreements which have resulted in too, too many Jewish lives lost to
terrorists.
In short, Rabbi Yosef played the political game, to the
benefit -- and occasionally, to the detriment -- of the Jewish people. In such regard, his batting average was, on
the whole, far better than most. But he
did not bat 1000.
Rest in Peace, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
[The
tallit
is a garment worn during prayer, "prayer shawl" is a common English
term for it.
The
tallit is also sometimes used as
a canopy under which a bride and groom do the marriage ceremony, and, even for
unreligious Jewish males, is draped around the body of the deceased at burial.
Rabbi Yosef will obviously be buried in
his.
Until I am buried in mine, I shall
use it during prayer.
The sun is rising. Time for me
to go put on my tallit and pray!].
Labels: Israel, Politics, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
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