Rabbi's Sermons

Shabbat Shalom,

While living in Israel, I went to a restaurant, and while enjoying my meals, a Haredi religious person came in with a supermarket cart filled with booklets of psalms and frames. The frames included the pictures of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and other rabbis, surrounded by stars of David, or "Shaviti", which is an image of a Menora, formed with the letters of Psalms 16 and 67.

I realized that he was selling them as Segula or protection for a house or business. He approached me and said: "The Maran can bring you good living, success and health!". All those blessings in a frame of 60x40cms for the modest sum of 150 Shekels! Wasn't it a "super Black Friday" deal? What surprised me the most about the situation was, not the absurd sale in itself, but the emotions and the brilliance of his eyes while he offered with so much faith, so much good for so little money! Apparently, he believed with a full conviction of what he was doing and in the value of his frames. He did not seem to have the slightest doubt, not a single moment that what he was doing was absolutely against the foundations of Judaism, regarding our full and absolute faith, in one God only, the creator of the Universe.

The somewhat annoyed and tired haredi, walked away to the next table trying to sell his frames and left me with a bitter feeling. I hadn’t finish my meals, when I received a telemarketing phone call with an automatic recording in which they asked for donations for a Torah page (again, in memory of Maran Ovadia Yosef). I always hang up on these kinds of automated calls immediately, especially when it comes to recorded messages, but not knowing why, in this case I kept listening. I understood donating money was for a single letter on a Torah scroll in memory of a beloved one. What surprised me, was the ending of the message: “Now that the Maran is in the chair of glory under the wings of the divine providence, of course he will be able to give you kindness for your goodness and give you blessings for anything you ask: Healing, success, partner or anything”. That was the moment when I angrily closed the call, for the cynical use made – until today - of the personality of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. I never liked his aggressive and extreme statements towards the Liberal movements, which he literally cursed, but I also remember his wise halachic decisions towards the Agunot, the women whose husbands disappear, or the soldiers’ widows, whose husbands are still missing, and also his open acceptance towards the Ethiopian community. But from there to turn him into a saint, sitting in the chair of glory next to the Divine, under the wings of divine providence and capable of granting health, or the lottery numbers and securing a promising wedding?... in my humble opinion, that is a blunt crossing of a red line. That is something that should not exist at all in Judaism!

I felt so affected because I was born in a very Catholic country. Mexico believes in the virgin and the saints more than in Jesus himself! Those who visit the Basilica of Guadalupe will observe that the image of the virgin is in the center below, close to the people, with all the lights on her, while above almost negligible... a cross, without a physical body is located, only two sections, one on top of the other. In Catholicism, there are formally 365 "saints" one for each day of the year. In homes, businesses and even in taxis, you can usually see the image of Saint Peter, or Saint John, or any others, “designated” to the varied needs: wealth, health, marriage, you name it. Judaism requires from us to have great respect for the beliefs of others, especially with our friends, Catholics and Christians with whom we live, and who, despite such great differences, we respect. As I recently learned from my colleague, Rabbi Gustavo Kraselnik, "we can be different, but not distant".

What happens in Judaism? The Catholic priest wears a long robe, just like the one Rabbi Ovadia Yosef had. Orthodox groups often kiss the hand of their great rabbis just as the Catholic person approaches to kiss the priest's hand. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, by the way, never opposed to that custom, but accepted it quite naturally. The photos of Baba Sali, or other rabbis, are still being sold, even today, just as if I would see them at the gates of the Catholic churches. In other words, there is no real difference! Even the extreme fanatic movement (yellow-flagged) Chabad, still considers, to this day, Rabbi Luvabitch, as the Messiah, that’s even more than holy! It would not surprise me that in a few years, (God forbids) they may talk about the "representative of God" and we may finally reach a definitive category of idolaters.

There are no, nor will never be, "saints" in Judaism. Any variation, however small, to this concept, poses a great danger to Judaism. The Torah repeatedly insists on the exclusive holiness of God, and as part of that, on the human nature of the other participants in the Biblical stories - they are not “saints”, but only flesh and blood humans. Unlike the New Testament, in which Jesus is shown as the best of any man, without spot, failures or errors, the Torah does not try to "sweep under the rug" any evidence of the difficult, and often surprising, actions of the patriarchs of the Jewish people. Quite the contrary, the greatest characters and leaders are shown as flesh and blood, with feelings, passions and serious mistakes, like anyone of us.

Abraham is shown as fearful, when he introduces his wife Sara as "his sister" to Abimelech (by the way she was indeed his half-sister). Itzhak makes the same mistake and lies to the people of Gerar with the same words "she is my sister", when asked about his beautiful spouse Rivka. Moses himself, and Aaron, his brother, a Cohen, are presented as weak and without faith, for the sin of the waters in Meriva: "Because you believed Me not, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel" Numbers 20:12. As far as the ethical values ​​of Kings David and Solomon, there is enough material to make a Beit Midrash and deal with their offenses. Last week, in Parashat Toldot, Yaacov was shown as a conman and cheater, by dressing up as his brother Esau, with intent of stealing his birthright.

This week, in Parashat Vayetze, in chapter 31, we read of Laban's bitter complaint against his nephew, Yaacov, who in a moment of fear, decides to escape, yes… again, running away as he did when fleeing from Esau. The angry uncle, Laban, is following him for several days, and only by a divine intervention of God, in Laban´s dreams, a tragedy is avoided, in which, surely, our patriarch Yaacov would not have been left alive. Yaacov, who escapes once again, in stealth, Yaacov that OKEV - "tries to turn" the direct rules, apparently without any justification. After all, God asked Yaacov to separate from Laban, not to steal or flee from him... The Torah does not show saints, but people, who like us, are vulnerable, can be afraid and make mistakes.

This important message from today’s Parasha is very clear! We are all at the same level before the Divinity: Abraham, Yitzhak, Yaacov, Moshe, Aharon, David or Solomon. We are all, no more than human, flesh and blood. We are not perfect but may be perfected, as the Torah indicates: "קדושים תהיו כי קדוש אני" - Kedoshim Tihiyu ki kadosh Ani - " Ye shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy" Leviticus 19:2. Let us turn our lives into a sacred life through our acts, not through the image of anyone. How to do it? The Talmud Makot 24a tells us that Rabbi Simlai synthesized the 613 commandments, to different levels. King David synthesized them to 11, with his Psalm 15, Isaiah synthesized them to 6 in his chapter 16, and finally the prophet Micah synthesized them to 3: “what doth the Lord require of thee but to do justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God” Micah 6:8. Then the prophet Isaiah synthesized them to 2 commandments only: “Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment, and do justice” Isaiah 56:1, and finally, Habakkuk, the prophet, reduced it to a one single principle: “…the just shall live by his faith” Habakkuk 2:4. Justice, mercy, humility, right and faith, those are the pillars of a life, truly filled with sanctity and holiness!

Shabbat Shalom

Rabbi David Laor

December 6^th, 2024