By Rabbi Dow Marmur
JERUSALEM — The phrase, סלח לעווננו כי רב הוא in one of the Jewish penitential prayers is normally translated as, “Forgive us our iniquity for it is great.” However, with a little mischief it can also be rendered, “Forgive us our iniquity for he is a rabbi.” This second version seems to be apt when it comes to reflecting on Israel’s chief rabbis who’re giving a bad name not only to the rabbinic calling but also to the Jewish state and, indeed, to Judaism.
The latest example is the pronouncement by Yitzhak Yosef, Israel’s Sephardi chief rabbi, who described Blacks as monkeys. When challenged, he defended himself that he was only explaining a passage in the Talmud. In an earlier dictum, he had compared secular women to animals because they don’t dress according to the ultra-Orthodox code of modesty.
Israeli authorities are said to be investigating whether the learned rabbi’s description of Blacks amounts to indictable incitement to racism that would warrant at least removing him from office and perhaps also sending him to prison.
Should he go to jail, he may end up close to the former Ashkenazi chief rabbi Yona Metzger who’s currently doing time for taking bribes and suchlike.
Yitzhak Yosef comes from a family of powerful rabbis known for their outrageous opinions. His brother Avraham, also a rabbi, has argued that people holding senior positions in the Israeli civil service and its courts should not be called to the Torah or in any other way given prominence in synagogues. Congregations of the pious should express their disdain for those who serve the Jewish state and its judiciary by putting them beyond the pale.
Their late father Ovadiah Yosef, a former chief rabbi, declared some years ago that the only reason for having non-Jews in Israel is for them to serve Jews.
The (Jewish) Anti-Defamation League in the United States has protested against Yitzhak Yosef’s statement. Even Britain’s mild-mannered Orthodox chief rabbi has distanced himself from his Israeli counterpart.
So do many Israeli Orthodox Jews showing not only contempt for the incumbent but also for the office as such. Some declare their independence, for example, by choosing to be married by Orthodox rabbis who aren’t licensed by the chief rabbinate; my wife and I attended such a wedding recently.
Surveys suggest that only a relatively small percentage of Israelis approve of the institution. “Israel’s Chief Rabbinate is a threat to Jewish unity and democracy.” That’s the headline of a blog by Uri Regev, a leading rabbi in the Israel Reform Movement. His
:It is time for lovers of Israel, from Orthodox to secular, from across the Jewish world, to work assertively toward the full realization of the founding vision of the State of Israel. Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef’s misguided utterances about black people, monkeys and civil judges merely reflect the enormity of the challenge facing us.”
Well put. But perhaps, in view of all the other problems Israel is facing, this one, though annoying, is less urgent.
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Rabbi Marmur is spiritual leader emeritus of Holy Blossom Temple in Toronto, Canada. Now residing in Jerusalem, he may be contacted via dow.marmur@sdjewishworld.com