Israel – Shas Council of Torah Sages Head Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said on Saturday night that the devastating Carmel fire was a result of insufficient Shabbat observance in the area.
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“Fires only happen in a place where Shabbat is desecrated,” he quoted from the Babylonian Talmud Shabbat tractate in his weekly sermon. “Homes were ruined,” he continued, “entire neighborhoods wiped out, and it is not arbitrary. It is all divine providence.”
“We must repent, keep Shabbat appropriately. When the People of Israel repent, God safeguards them with a wall of fire,” but not of the incinerating type, Yosef added.
Note to all those who post comments on this site and like to ‘play God’, judging others and giving reasons for tragedies…when you are on the level of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and are in his position, you can make such comments like these-otherwise, please know your boundaries.
With all respect, I wisht this rav would keep his mouth shut while Isreaelis are dying and thousands are fighting the fires. There will be enough time to assign blame when the flames are extinguished.
Oh please! We live in a generation that needs chizuk and not mussar! We r suffering enough and so many of us try harder and harder! So dont play the blame game! True, every person must work on themselves but to come out and say whats the reason? I think since the holocaust no one has the authority to proclaim something like that. Even a chacham like harav ovadia.
how can he say such a thing? every yid is kodesh! the gemorah says “al fapi sechuta yisroel he” a manhig job is to find a zchus in a yid not the opposite! …..shame!
we need rav levi yitzchok of bardichiv who found a zchus in every yid, no matter who…
im tired of these baseless hateful proclamations.
He quoted a Gemara, do you guys have a problem with that?
So what about the orthodox family from Sbarro bombing , chabad in mumbai, or whole family hit by train in van, what did they all do? what a reckless thing to say-so all of us are not safe for living in newyork since there is shabbas desecration?
Its amazing to see such evil bashers on this site. They seem to be on the level of saying what the gedolim are allowed and not allowed to say.
Did the chofetz chaim have any right to say that the holocaust came about because people showed no respect to shuls since they talked during davening? Did chazal have any right to tell us why the bais hamikash was destroyed? Apparently, your opinion would say NO!
True, Harav Ovadia may not be on the level of leaders in previous generations, however, he is a leader of this generation. Its not for me or you to decide who the leaders are today rather the klal. So before you open your mouth and decide in your minuscule brain what your dopey feelings are, think what you are compared to him and it may humble you a bit.
I was waiting for this comment since the fires started. So I guess all of Israel ch’vsh will burn.
To # 2 3 4 5 shame on all of you, who and what are you to dare defy the words of the holy hacham. every word that comes out of his holy mouth is emet and if this holy hacham said it it’s true. shame on you for your disrespect towards him. I suggest you all ask him mechila.
You are wrong !!!
The responsobility of a Rav, espeacially the caliber of Rav Yosef, is to , Yes, Find zechusim, but when something of this magnitude happens, he must raise the awerness of his followers, and of all Yiddin, where we should better ourselves.
All great Rabunim did the same thing. Even the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, once pointed out to a tragedy in Eretz Yisrael, that is happened because of desacrating the Shabbos,,
this scare tactic of rav ovadia wont work people are not that stupid as to believe such mindless inconsiderate incensitive statements as why this happened he is playing god and that is a no no, i think he has dementia he doesnt realize how idiotic his oppinions are, to me he looks like he is in his second childhood as the saying goes be quite people will think youre smart, seyog lehohmu shtike
WOW I am so impressed that this guy did not blame Amsalem for the fires! I respect all Talmidie Chachomim but this guy knows too many reasons for everything bad that happens, he’s out of control.
Here we have all the kofrim and anti Torah creatures coming out of the woodwork and offering their worthless 2 cents. Whats wrong with you idiots? Dont you know who you are messing with? Its the truth that hurts and noone wants mussar. They want to live their empty lives with sin and desire and fail to acknowledge that everything that happens in life is for a reason and Rav Ovadia has the courage and the wisdom to give mussar to those that need it. Woe to all of you that ignore his cries, your days of reckoning will come soon and you will be in deep trouble. Shame on you !!!!
Does anyone know how many Yidden there were in San Fransisco in 1906?
Attention: Unless you know more Torah than Rav Ovadia, don’t bother posting any criticism of his statement.
He didn’t do anything wrong by speaking the TRUTH. The rav is blunt as says how it is. People need mussar just as much as chizuk. But people are “afraid” of hearing the truth, They rather just stay in denial. If any of you hear the rav speak in his weekly shiur you would know that he loves every jew more than any of us and davens for all klal yisroel. He doesn’t differentiate between charaidi or not. Never! But when a tragedy like this outbursts he gives mussar (and chizuk as well that vin doesn’t display)but in the same time truly feels the pain of all those that were effected terribly by this fire.
Truer words were never spoken. Except for the liberal shkatzim who think everything is random and that Hashem is off watching TV somewhere while this all happens.
Here we go again, with the claim that every word coming out of a man’s mouth is holy just becaue he knows a lot of Shas. When I was a kid in yeshiva we used to laugh at the Catholics for claiming one man, the pope, was infallible. But we frum Yidden now have hundreds of popes — every big-name rosh yeshiva or lamdan is suddenly infallible and can never be questioned. As for the comment about the Chofetz Chaim – he died years before the Holocaust, so he couldn’t have blamed it on anything.
What’s true is true. He quoted a gemara. So all you that choose to bad mouth rabbi yosef its only because your baali lashon harah and bored with your time! Not to mention that we have NO right to question a gadols words. Especially when it comes to torah words .take the mussar and believe that whatever the talmud says is 100% true and accurate.
To #8 , I am not disagreeing with you in general. But the Chofetz Chaim was nifter about 7 years before the holocaust, so he wouldnt have been commenting on it..
Over the past many years I’ve found that most of these quotes are out of context. When you hear the whole context of the remark, he may have said something entirely different.
So before rushing to make silly comments, get the context. Realize that the source of this report is a chiloni paper which may be telling the truth, but only half of the truth which may be a falsehood. Not unprecedented.
Yechi hamelech!
We must pray to hashem that reb ovadia is maarich yumim.
We need gedolim that know kol hatorah to find the appropriate chazal in time of tragedy!
And to the apikorsim that bash someone that merely quotes daas chazal;do teshuva!
Anyone who says that this fire, or any other calamity, even the Holocaust, is some kind of random occurrence that Hashem had nothing to do with is a kofer in kol haTorah kulah. EVERYTHING that happens is Hashem’s will.
To #12 and 13#. You have no daas torah and have absolutely went past your limits by revealing your idiocy. You obviously don’t know who your speaking about nor did you ever hear any of his shiurim. So “gam e’vil machrish chacham yechashev”. Gd bless him with a long healthy life.
Does Talmud warn us of consequences and forest fires if Torah observers steal and abuse women and children? I think I get Shas’ wisdom. Secular Israelis don’t observe shabbos and mitzvos so they cause fires and wars. But the bloated yeshiva/kollel system where the holy rabbis defraud and steal tax money from citizens are here to protect us from wars and disasters with their “spirituality.” At least Amsalem will be sleeping well because he escaped the blame game for now.
If this is the only reason for the great fire in Israel, does that mean the only reason Shas lost so many seats in the Kenneset is because Rabbi Ovadia is a sinner?
Just this past week (end of the ) Torah portion, Yehuda attributes the problems he is facing with the silver goblet etc. to being harsh and insensitive with his brother. The Torah very clearly connects bad occurences with lacking behaviour.
BTW the Lubavitcher Rebbe many times connected fires with a weaknes in shmiras shabbos.
May Hashem have rachmonus on his people.
I wonder what we could say to those who think that there might be a connection between Eli Yishai being blamed for the fire and Rav Ovadiah’s wanting to blame it on Chillul Shabbos.
A cynic would say that Rav Ovadia is not able to view this objectively, given that he wants to protect his closest and most powerful ally, who is being asked to resign.
Yishai, by the way, is blaming it on Ariel Sharon, who has been in a coma for the past five years.
so….why are there so manys fires in Williamburg and BP before paysach? Those places have more wholey sites than anywheres.
People. Where is the achdus? Let’s take the words of mussar and be mechazek ourselves. Its not a time to discriminate a rav or to speak L”H. If you feel like the tragedy has nothing to do with us because we live in the states that’s your call. But let’s not get carried away. G”v
Not all of the victims are Jews. A number of Druze are among the dead.
well he says what he believes.no doubt about that.in this generation of halfling spiritual leaders he makes points.you may dissagree but you cant fault him on his stateing his opinions.besides he sure as day comes after nite he makes it intresting.
Regarding comments saying the Chafetz Chaim was niftar before the holocaust, although he was in fact niftar in 1933, he warned of an impending doom. He said there would be devastation. When people asked what they could do to save themselves he quoted a pasuk from Ovadia (1:17) Ubehar tzion tiheye pelaita.
Yes, Rabbi Yosef is a great Torah scholar – but he is past his prime. He may well have been quoting Gamorrah – but he chose the wrong time to do so. The Shas council would be wise to elect a new spokesman – one who hasn’t lost touch with reality. How dare he disrespect the families of those who perished – many frum amongst them. If this is the behaviour that one can expect from the frum leaders, then I will thank Hashem that I am not frum. I can guarantee that my Rabbi would never utter such statements – while the tragic situation still rages.
All of this back and forth is senseless. Those that believe in hashem know the truth that everything happens for a reason and those that dont believe in hashem will always have something to say about it. The fact that Harav Ovadia came out and quoted a gemarah should have no basis for controversy, if you have a problem with what he said I suggest writing an email to the original authors of the talmud. I myself lack faith in certain areas and have a time coming to terms with the things I see happening around me especially when ppl tell me, if you keep shabat, this wont happen to you, if you keep kosher this wont happen to you. But as an adult, I have noticed too many “miracles” to doubt the existence of god and that hes responsible for EVERYTHING that happens in this world! Chag sameach.
The deragatory names are flying on this website. Skatzim, liberals and all types of adjectives. Maybe someone will answer this question that the statistic show that Israel for its total population is below the norm in firefighters. Could it be that sitting quetsching a bank is a lot easier than joining the fire department. Instead of quoting all types of maamers from chazal maybe concentrate on that issue. Any of you talmidim chachomim ready to learn fire fighting. I doubt it because men ken zich verbrennen
“Maybe someone will answer this question that the statistic show that Israel for its total population is below the norm in firefighters. .”
That is a truly excellent point, anonymous #70 .
Notwithstanding that many Israelis are prepared to serve in some of the most dangerous of units in the IDF, that a fair percentage are police officers and that not a few serve in the Mossad or the Shin Bet, the fire service has always seemed to be the Cinderella of Israel’s security set up.
Judging by what I have opined above, it is not that Israeli men and women are afraid of tough tasks; could it be that the salary on offer is not commensurate with the job requirements?
Nevertheless, anonymous #70 , I think your remark “Any of you talmidim chachomim ready to learn fire fighting. I doubt it because men ken zich verbrennen” is beneath all possible contempt.
And I write as a confirmed cynic of the apparently free-loading kolel system in Israel.
How do people know, seriously, that Rav Ovadia Yosef is a gadol? All I know so far that he wrote many seforim and that his mouth can be gadol.
What methods are in place to ensure that when great rabanim begin to lose their faculties in later years that they retire to private life rather than continue to make outlandish remarks that right thinking individuals keep to themselves. even when they are true.
One thing is for sure: Machloikah does not help!!!!!!! So just stop this nonsense & just beit di aibershter that all should be good!!!