When a Religious Leader Loses His Sense of Moral Clarity

Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef (TOI)

One must respect the opinions of rabbinic leaders in every generation. They generally earn their titles as leaders by virtue of their Torah knowledge, piety,  and their life-long experiences. They are the ultimate Chareid L’Dvar HaShem - trembling lest they violate the word of God - especially since they guide the Jewish people.

It is therefore a mistake to denigrate or worse - humiliate - these great figures. Regardless of how much one disagrees with them. They did not become leaders by accident. They became leaders because many other rabbinic authorities recognized them as such. That, together with the wisdom that comes with age, makes them leaders.

So, I respect those leaders even when I disagree strongly with them. Some would say that my very disagreement is an insult regardless of how respectfully I state it. That is pure nonsense. Others might say that my disagreement is meaningless in the face of their superior Torah knowledge, wisdom, and piety. That may  - or may not be true. But that has never stopped me from expressing my difference of opinion about some of their policy positions and statements. Most often those disagreements are the product of influences from my own rabbinic mentors who - even though many are no longer alive - were nonetheless great leaders who themselves possessed Torah knowledge, wisdom, piety, and life experience.

But sometimes lines are crossed where I cannot in good conscience respect such a leader. When I read something like the following, I lost any level of respect I ever had for him. I dare say that my rabbinic mentors might even agree with me. I am talking about a story involving Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, the rabbinic leader of the Sephardic Shas party and former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel.

If what the Times of Israel reports is true, I can no longer respect Rabbi /Yosef. No matter how much piety, Torah knowledge, and life experience he may have.

It isn’t only that I have profound differences with him; it is what he said about another rabbinic leader:

Former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who is also the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, calls a fellow rabbi and bereaved father a heretic for advocating conscription for yeshiva students.

“Who is an apikores?” Yosef is heard saying in recordings first leaked by Kol Chai radio and published by Ynet, referring to the traditional Jewish term for a heretic. “He says, ‘Everyone should go to the army.’ What do you mean by everyone [should go] to the army? They study Torah. Just as there is an air force, there is the ‘God force’ of those who sit and study Torah and protect the entire people of Israel.”

In the recording, Yosef explicitly criticizes Rabbi Tamir Granot, who serves as the head of the hesder yeshiva Orot Shaul in Tel Aviv — which combines Torah study and military service — and whose son, Cpt. Amitay Granot, was killed by an anti-tank missile on the Lebanon border in October 2023.

“Several heads of yeshivot attacked me,” Yosef says. “There was one rabbi — I don’t know if he’s a rabbi — Granot, the head of a hesder yeshiva. The way he spoke against us on television. Aren’t you afraid of the humiliation of the Torah scholars?”

“I think there are some of them who, if they were to come to join a minyan (prayer quorum), we would not include them in the minyan,” Yosef continues. “They fall under the category of apikores. Not all of them.”

I cannot understand how someone who is supposed to be a leader of the Jewish people can be so callous as to call a fellow rabbi a heretic merely because he suggested that yeshiva students should serve in the army. That would be bad enough. But to call the head of a Hesder yeshiva who lost his son in battle an apikores is beyond disgusting.

Even if I grant that Rabbi Yosef is entitled to his view against conscription of yeshiva students, to call a Rosh Yeshiva, who believes that Torah study and military service can coexist to protect the Jewish people... and Rabbi Yosef calls him an apikores?! That he said it about a man who lost his son in battle makes it one of the worst things I have ever heard a rabbinic leader ever say. It is the height of insensitivity and callousness. 

Although I profoundly disagree with him, Rabbi Yosef is entitled to his religious views exempting yeshiva students from army service. But tin my view he has lost any claim to moral authority with those comments. I believes it disqualifies him from any claim of leadership among the Jewish people..

I would therefore advise anyone who considers Rabbi Yosef their spiritual leader, to find another one. Because I believe Rabbi Yosef has lost his way.

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