Ovadia Yosef has left the building

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, former Chief Sephardi Rabbi of Israel, a Gadol of Torah, who has written voluminously on Jewish Law and has been a source of reason and leniency in the face of a growing trend towards absolutist orthodox stringency, has finally lost his freakin' mind.

In his weekly parsha-address, Rav Ovadia said:

"Is it any wonder if, heaven forbid, soldiers are killed in a war?" he said, "when they don't observe the Sabbath, they don't observe the Torah, they don't pray every day, they don't put on phylacteries every day. Is it any wonder that they're killed? It's no wonder."

It's not the first time Rav Ovadia has said some ridiculous bull sh*t. The article also cites that he blamed Katrina on Bush's support for the Gaza pullout and that he cursed Ariel Sharon with illness for initiating the disengagement plan.

This is the same guy who, back in the 80's, cited pikuach nefesh (saving a life) as to why it was OK to cede land for peace, at a time when no religious leaders would dare suggest giving back an inch of the Holy land. Rav Ovadia also gave a lenient ruling to a meat restaurant in Israel, granting it kosher status despite the fact that it would, on occasion, serve ice cream to customers in-the-know, on the basis that if he did not, the restaurant would go whole-hog traif (pun certainly intended).

It's so sad to see this man say such bizarre things. Ovadia Yosef at one time was the only rabbi to be pro-peace with Palestinians, and this while representing Sephardic Israelis, a typically right-wing group. All his earlier work, both political and legal, is going to be eclipsed by these inane ramblings. So hey, fellow clerics out there, no matter how bad your High Holiday sermon is, at least it won't offend millions of widows and orphans. I hope.

BTW, the AP wire title was 'Rabbi: Non-believing soldiers die', which is inaccurate based on the quote: plenty of Jews believe in God, they just don't believe in wrapping Tefillin. Hey, we Jews might be meshuggenuh for believing that you'll get killed for forgetting to say Minchah, but being smited for not believing? That's just goyish.