Jerusalem – Former Knesset member Chaim Amsalem reacted, Sunday, to the ouster of Member of Knesset Eli Yishai from the leadership of the Shas party by saying Yishai was put through the same revolving door that Yishai put him through. Interviewed on Arutz Sheva’s Hebrew Journal, Rabbi Amsalem said, “The moment that members of the house of Rabbi Ovadia Yoseph – meaning his son, daughter-in-law and Ariel Attias – decided that the grace of Eli Yishai, the revolving door also revolved on him….”
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Rabbi Amsalem, who served out his Knesset term as a one-man faction, recalled how he was ousted from the Sephardic-hareidi party, as he put it, for fighting on behalf of Sephardic girls and calling for separation from Lithuanian-hareidi methods, as well as his view that there was a value to work and Zionism. He said Yishai was in a group that kept him from speaking directly with Rabbi Yoseph and the same thing happened to Yishai. Amsalem said he expected that Yishai’s position of support for Zionism and Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria (Shomron) would weaken and a more Lithuanian approach would be seen under returning Chairman Aryeh Der’i.
If you believe half of the orthodox and other jewish leaders are there for you these days, think again. Hatred has found its way into every enclave of Jewish life except those who truly honor Torah as it should be.
I like this guy, Amsalem. Something is rotten in Israel.
What Sour Grapes. Much of his platform acerbated tensions with the Ashkenazim. Good riddance.
Rav Amselam is a humble and truthful person.. he is a man with a real vision for Klal Yisreol, and has tremendous guts i admire him strongly…he has far more character then many Rabunim in the U.S.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Boruch shekivanti lehaGaon Harav Amsalem. May he keep up his good work, and see hatzlacha in the future.
Amsalem’s most important point is how Sefardi Haredi leadership became more radicalized under the influence of Ashkenazi system of education and rule. Go back 30 years and you’ll see how more sane and practical and less antagonistic towards general society Sefardi parties were. The sad thing is, younger generation of leaders are even more radicalized, so don’t expect change anytime soon. Yishai was a corrupt tool of the party who followed orders of his wise adviser as long as there were kickbacks for his duties. I’m not feeling any sympathy for this man who has not done anything or Israelis as a whole.
Anselam was a breath of fresh air in Israel politics as compared to the stench arising from having chareidi rabbonim and their groupies acting like a bunch of Chicago political hacks and dictating winners/losers. Maybe its time for the Yosefs to stay in their yeshivos and mosdos and leave the management of the Shas politics to the electorate.
I don’t know Amsalem can claim that he was ousted because of Eli Yishai. The fact is, is that he publically called for all Yeshiva boys to be drafted, with the exception of an elite group of iluyim. This is in clear contradiction to the opinion of Harav Ovadya yosef, who believes that all boys should sit and learn.
In short, Amsalem got himself kicked out of Shas.
Amsalem had a great line: When Shas was complaining that not to support its requests for govt funds was hurting the poor, Rabbi Amsalem retorted, your policies are what’s causing the poverty in the first place. Why can’t children learn a bit of math, science, and English so they can make a living when they need to?
The Bayit Sheini was destroyed when the Rabbis failed to defend the honor of a man who was publicly humiliated. Today moderate rabbis also remain silent to the deafening sounds of loshon hara coming from those who were proclaimed to be “gedolim.” How many more disasters must we endure for repeated sins?
Amsalem was ousted from Shas after his stand (2011) that Zera Yisrael (non Jews with Jewish paternal ancestry or who married Jews) should be converted without kabbalat mitzvot.
That “breath of fresh air” is not Judaism.
He’s honest and on the mark with his comment.