Shas chairman Aryeh Deri formally asked Rishon LeTzion Rav Yitzchak Yosef to assume a central leadership role in preserving and directing the legacy of his father, Maran Rav Ovadia Yosef zt”l, during a dramatic meeting Thursday that was presented as a major display of unity within the Sephardic Torah community ahead of the elections.
Deri arrived at Rav Yosef’s home carrying a personal letter from Rav Moshe Maya, the senior member of the Shas Moetzes Chachmei HaTorah, who had appointed Deri as his personal emissary to deliver the message.
In the letter, Rav Maya stressed that Shas has remained committed to the legacy of Maran Rav Ovadia Yosef and asked Rav Yitzchak Yosef, as the continuation of his father’s path and the son whom Rav Ovadia designated before his passing, to oversee the implementation of that legacy throughout Shas and its institutions.
Rav Maya appealed to Rav Yosef to guide the party’s representatives regarding the path they should follow and the actions they should take.
During the meeting, Deri personally reinforced that request, telling Rav Yosef that the party’s leadership and representatives across the country wanted him to stand at their head and continue the legacy established by his father.
Aryeh Deri’s Remarks
“With Maran’s permission, I have come as an emissary of the senior member of the Moetzes Chachmei HaTorah, Maran Rav Moshe Maya shlita, who appointed me as his emissary to bring this letter to his honor — after we spoke together for many hours about the entire path and legacy of Maran zt”l.
“We sat for hours, and then he wrote a letter after a great, great deal of thought. He weighed every single word and appointed me as his emissary to personally deliver the letter to his honor. And now that I have come on this mission, I have also come to tell his honor — as chairman of the movement and as an emissary of my colleagues and all the movement’s representatives throughout the country — that they very, very, very much want his honor at their head, to continue Maran’s legacy.
“And of course, everyone remembers the coronation at Rabban Yochanan Ben Zakai, how Maran, at the end of his life, with tremendous self-sacrifice… I once told his honor how I brought him that morning when the doctors would not allow him and forbade him from going. With tremendous self-sacrifice, he came there, and he was so happy! On the way back, I had never seen him like that in my life — he was in a wheelchair, he turned around and said: ‘Reb Aryeh, nu…’ with a smile and joy on his face: ‘Baruch Hashem, I thank you for taking me there,’ in those exact words.
“Who did not shed a tear when they saw Maran Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef, without any strength, place the crown and the turban, and witnessed the tremendous emotion as he transmitted the tradition? As all of Am Yisroel knows: Moshe received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Yehoshua. We saw how the tradition, the leadership, was transferred, Baruch Hashem.
“I came to tell his honor: We are now in a very great battle. ‘It is a time of trouble for Yaakov,’ literally. When we unfortunately hear how the representatives of the left are speaking… the dismissed attorney general, who according to reports has already held dozens of meetings just on this issue, pressuring the police: ‘Why aren’t you arresting enough yeshiva bochurim? Why aren’t you arresting enough Torah learners?’ Hashem yerachem, where have we come to?
“This is an enormous battle. The senior member of the Moetzes, Rav Moshe Maya, told me yesterday — and to my understanding he is also going to put this in writing: All those who until now instructed people not to vote in elections must vote this time as a protest against the degradation of Torah! There is no greater protest and no greater degradation of Torah than this, and therefore this must be done.
“We came to tell his honor: B’ezras Hashem, we need Maran to join the effort, just as his honor remembers how, 40 and 50 years ago, Maran zt”l traveled throughout the entire country. He had his seforim and the movement, and he gave his life for this. Baruch Hashem, no one succeeded as he did. The entire Sephardic Torah world, the entire ‘eastern wall’ of the Sephardim — it is thanks to this holy movement.
“We ask Maran to continue and lead Maran’s legacy and guide the path for all the representatives, b’ezras Hashem. That is why I came, and I apologize for speaking at such length.”
Rav Yitzchak Yosef’s Remarks
“Chazak u’baruch to our dear friend, upon whom Maran, my father, placed his hands at the end of his life. We merited to have him brought to us in this holy movement. Baruch Hashem, he has been active and accomplishing for 13–14 years that he has been with us, and we have known Reb Aryeh not from today, but for more than 52 years — ben poras Yosef.
“Maran, my father, would always listen to him with calm consideration, and he truly recognized and appreciated his judgment. First of all, I want to bless him that he should continue bringing merit to the public and continue working and accomplishing more and more.
“As Reb Aryeh said, the situation now is very difficult. Chas v’shalom, if people sit at home and do not vote — woe to us for what will happen. The left will rise to power and impose extremely harsh decrees. What has happened until now will be nothing compared to what, chas v’shalom, could happen in the future.
“Under no circumstances may anyone sit at home! I do not think there has ever been an election so consequential for the Torah world and for yeshiva bochurim as this one. There have been many elections and many battles, but something like what is happening now regarding yeshiva bochurim? They are our foundation!
“Maran, my father, gave his life for the yeshiva bochurim. He loved them so much and wanted the Torah world to flourish. Baruch Hashem, my father merited that because of the Shas movement, there are Talmudei Torah, yeshivos ketanos and yeshivos gedolos, and the Sephardic Torah world has flourished — no one imagined it would become what it has. Maran placed this at the top of his priorities. Chas v’shalom that we should allow this to fall? No one should sit at home! Everyone must come and vote for the Shas movement, the movement that Maran, my father, established.
“Sometimes there is some criticism here, some criticism there… You do not leave your home! Fine, ‘maybe this isn’t good and maybe that isn’t good.’ There is no shortage of criticism to find, but we must look at the ultimate goal: You do not leave your home. This is our home. Maran, my father, built this home with his own ten fingers, and Maran, my father, was the one who appointed Reb Aryeh because he understood that he listens to the chachamim.
“We have now decided, Reb Aryeh and I, that every Friday we will sit here — we will both learn and discuss matters of leadership. This is very important: We will listen; I will hear him, he will hear me, ‘and salvation comes through much counsel.’ This is very important.
“Therefore, I strengthen his hands, and I strengthen the hands of all the Torah representatives throughout the country. Everyone must be soldiers of this holy Torah in order to establish the yoke of Torah and to stand in the breach against all the decrees they are thinking of imposing.
“We will have siyata d’Shmaya, and HaKadosh Baruch Hu will help us so that after these elections we will be able to solve these problems — very difficult problems, particularly the problems concerning yeshiva bochurim, which are at the forefront of Reb Aryeh’s concerns and ours as well. People think Reb Aryeh doesn’t care? I know how much sleep he has lost from anguish over everything that is happening, from the attorney general and all those who are restricting the Torah world!
“We need to give strength, rabosai. Give everyone the strength to act l’shem Shamayim. May it be His will that we merit to see blessing in our efforts, and that the yeshiva world flourish despite all those who pursue us — ‘No weapon formed against you shall succeed.’ The Torah world will continue to flourish and prosper, and our representatives, led by Reb Aryeh, will do everything after the elections to find a way to solve these problems. Rabosai, it is not simple, but Hashem will help with siyata d’Shmaya.
“I bless Reb Aryeh that he should have bracha and hatzlacha, that he should merit to see nachas d’kedusha from all his descendants and from the entire precious community, and that all the representatives should follow his authority. That is very important.
“I want to make another very important point: The Shas movement safeguards Maran’s legacy in every respect — both in matters of leadership and matters of practical halacha. What interests us greatly is practical halacha. I constantly sit immersed in Torah and avodah, writing seforim, and Baruch Hashem, people study our seforim. What interests me is Maran’s legacy.
“And our movement, the Shas movement, continues Maran’s legacy of increasing Torah and glorifying it. Today, ordinary baalei batim throughout the country — and throughout the world as well, but our focus is on the country — are all learning from Maran’s Torah, and Maran’s halachos are widespread everywhere. For this, I give my life.
“When the last war, ‘Swords of Iron,’ broke out, I went to all the bases throughout the country. There was not a single base in the country that we skipped — I asked my aides not to skip any base: the Air Force, the Navy, the infantry. We blessed the soldiers, strengthened them, encouraged them, and together with them accepted upon ourselves the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven.
“We love the soldiers; we love all of Am Yisroel! But people need to understand that Torah goes together with the soldiers — we cannot exist without Torah. Sometimes people do not understand this: We care for the soldiers by ensuring that there is Torah, because Torah protects the soldiers and protects all of Am Yisroel. Therefore, the two must go together, ‘the book and the sword’ — both of these things, both Torah and the soldiers.
“I take this opportunity to bless all the soldiers: May HaKadosh Baruch Hu protect their going out and their coming in, may no harm befall them, and may they all return home healthy and whole and continue protecting Am Yisroel. They are emissaries of HaKadosh Baruch Hu to protect Am Yisroel.
“Maran used to say: ‘If a person sees a soldier, he should kiss him, because he has this merit of protecting Am Yisroel; he is an emissary of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. Everything comes from Him, everything comes from Above, and everything is in the merit of the holy Torah, but they are the emissaries.’ Therefore, we bless all the soldiers that they should return home to a good life, healthy and whole, and that we should merit already to have peace and that there should be no more of these wars. May HaKadosh Baruch Hu give the soldiers the strength to triumph, ‘May terror and dread fall upon them.’
“I once again bless all of our representatives that they should work on behalf of the Torah and on behalf of the yeshivos, and may we merit the complete redemption speedily, amen.”
{Matzav.com}
