Chief rabbi under fire for crediting yeshivas, not army, with Israel’s survival in war
Critics slam Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, with one retorting that by that logic, the rabbi himself ‘should go to jail with his supporters for their failure on October 7’
Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef was assailed Saturday night and Sunday for saying that Israel has survived rocket attacks by terror groups throughout the ongoing war in Gaza thanks to yeshiva students, rather than the work of the security forces.
In a filmed weekly sermon Saturday evening, Yosef said that “13,000 missiles were lobbed at our country [since the October 7 Hamas onslaught]; thank God for the miracles and wonders we had. Thanks to what? Thanks to the IDF chief of staff? Thanks to whom? Thanks to the Torah students and yeshiva students, who sit and study the Torah.”
He went on to say that Israelis were saved from attacks in the north, south and by Hamas terrorists, “only thanks to the members of the yeshivas and their students. They protect all the soldiers and all the nation of Israel.”
The sermon came after the rabbi said last month that ultra-Orthodox people would leave Israel if forced to enlist, as a High Court-set deadline for the government to pass a new law regulating the matter nears.
The Haredi establishment is vehemently opposed to community members being drafted, arguing that serving in the military at a young age would threaten their identity. The top court has repeatedly ruled that a blanket exemption for Haredim harms the principle of equality.
In his sermon on Saturday night, Yosef said that he had been contacted by a number of leaders of hesder yeshivas — a religious Zionist program that combines a couple of years of Torah learning with a shortened military service — who asked him to recant his previous statement.
“When I said that a few weeks ago, some heads of hesder yeshivas attacked us in the media with no shame. They spoke out against us. You speak out against Israel’s rabbi? Where does the audacity come from?” he said, adding that he still stood by his statement last month.
Yosef’s remarks, occurring amid a war and a polarizing debate about ending yeshiva students’ exemption from military service, prompted many on social networks to say he should not be given the prestigious Israel Prize, which he is scheduled to receive in a few weeks.
The Saturday sermon renewed the criticism, including from Opposition Leader Yair Lapid.
“I wonder whether he would agree to not have the Iron Dome in his neighborhood, seeing as how their prayers will protect them. I’m sure the answer is no,” Lapid told Kan public radio on Sunday morning, referring to the aerial defense system that intercepts short-range missiles.
“The people who applauded him should enlist like any other young Israeli,” he added.
Labor MK Gilad Kariv wrote on X on Saturday night that by that logic, “the State Investigation Committee [into the October 7 failures] will look into how 60,000 yeshiva students, who got exemptions [from military service], failed to use their Torah learning to prevent the disaster of Simhat Torah.”
On October 7, as Israeli Jews were celebrating the festival of Simhat Torah, thousands of Hamas terrorists invaded communities and army bases in the south, murdering some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping 253 to Gaza. The incident was seen as a severe security failure, with many high-ranking IDF officials taking responsibility for the failures that led to the attack, and several recently saying they will step down.
“There is also a good chance that [the investigation committee] will draw personal conclusions against Rabbi Yosef, as this great disaster happened during his term as chief rabbi,” Kariv continued sarcastically.
“In any case, we need some sort of organized logic.”
Following the same idea, Amit Mizrahi, an entrepreneur and lawyer, wrote on X that “by that logic, Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef should go to jail with his supporters for their failure on October 7.”
Rabbi David Stav, the chairman of the modern Orthodox Tzohar organization, which offers religious services to Israelis and is seen as an alternative to dealing with the ultra-Orthodox-dominated Chief Rabbinate, also condemned Yosef’s comments.
“There is no contradiction between recognizing the importance of the Torah and those who study, and the duty to obey the Torah’s orders and go to war to save Israel from its enemies,” he said.
He added that the chief rabbi’s “words of disdain against the IDF chief of staff and soldiers in the midst of the war are ungrateful and blasphemous.”
