You know how when you watch a magic or a mentalist show and you assume the people they call on by which to prove their skills are just plants placed in seemingly random locations around the hall? They then call on them to do their magic on or whatever and everyone is wowed, but you really wonder if the person in the crowd was just a plant, and it was all coordinated in advance.

Moshe Le-On, Mayor of Jerusalem, announced that he is going to be changing the name of the Har Nof neighborhood to Naot Yosef, as a tribute to Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv and Rav Ovadia Yosef, both leading rabbonim, gedolim, from Jerusalem.

Some residents love this change, and some residents are upset by it. I don't really care. I don't own stock in either name.

Shas is mainly featuring two figures in its election campaign ads - Benjamin Netanyahu and Rav Ovadia Yosef. I am not even sure which one of the two takes a backseat to the other, as both are featured very prominently and in most of the ads.

I am finding the Rav Ovadia inclusion (at the level it is at) very interesting. Rav Ovadia Yosef died 6 years ago. Yet he still is the main, or one of the main figures in the Shas campaign ads. Shas has had a new leader since then, yet he plays a small, almost negligible, role in this, little beyond the posek/adviser behind the scenes. Other prominent Shas figures play little to no role. The accomplishments of Shas play nothing more than a small role in the campaign, as do their plans for the future.

Is the memory of Rav Ovadia still so strong in the people's minds that using his image is what will capture the voters? I guess we'll find out.

We are not able to describe it. Thsi is the actual Beis Hamikdash. This is the Beis Hanmikdash of our generation. This house where Maran (Rav Ovadia Yosef) sat to write his divrei Torah and produce from there seforim.

  -- Rav Bentzion Mutzafi, about the establishment of Bet Maor Yisrael (a shul? a yeshiva? a kollel?) in the home/office of Rav Ovadia Yosef zt"l

As great as Rav Ovadia was in Torah, as much as he learned and published seforim, as great as he was as a leader - religious and social and political, and as significant as the opening of this institution might be.... this reminds of the statement that was always so criticized that expressed "Berlin is the new Jerusalem"... this is sometimes also said about Monsey and Lakewood and possibly other places, but when the it was said about Berlin it was met with strong criticism from the religious public.

next video in the documentary series is about Rav Ovadia..

An interesting law proposal is being submitted to the Knesset. Especially interesting and unique about it is that it is being prepared and proposed by a radio station, though I assume they will submit it through one of the MKs they are affiliated with.

Radio Kol BeRama is proposing that the State officially commemorate the memory of Rav Ovadia Yosef in a similar way that has been done for prime ministers and other influential personalities.

They have had a legal team preparing the law proposal to establish a center for commemorating his memory - sounds like something akin to the Rabin Center or the Begin Center, etc. The Ovadia Yosef Center would seemingly focus on the various halachic and social processes he put effort into during his life and help advance them now, as well as educate the public and establish the heritage of Sephardic Jewry. According to the proposal, the heritage center would include a museum with exhibitions about Rav Yosef's life and about the Edot Mizrach, along with a research center.
source: Ladaat

I think Rav Ovadia was influential, and revered, enough that he deserves such a memorial center. Unfortunately it will probably be used mostly as a way to give jobs and money to those who usually take advantage of his name and memory.

This is funny. Just a fluke of placement...

Shas's latest campaign, going up on signs all over the country, is an image of Rav Ovadia peering from above, saying that Abba is watching from above....

There is plenty to criticize about this campaign, but that's not what I want to do.

This specific sign made me laugh:


the sign is placed on a porch above an "adult entertainment" shop.. and it has Rav Ovadia watching from above...

I wonder if this caused any potential customers to walk away instead of entering the store...

this is the more impressive poster in this campaign:

if you have not yet heard the leaked video of Rav Ovadia talking about what he thinks of Aryeh Deri and how he does not want him to come back to lead Shas, here it is:



more interesting though than what he actually says about Deri is what it means in all its forms. The fact that the video exists, was recorded possibly without his knowledge, the clips that are being released in which he expresses the opposite opinions, that there are opposite clips that were also recorded, what it shows about how these askanim and rabbonim function where basically the rabbonim are forced or pressured to do and say what the askanim want. So, after saying all this, did Rav Ovadia really bring Deri back because he loves him so much and wanted to return the deposit to him or was he pressured to with threats? Did he say this because this is how he really felt or was he pressured to by Yishai? When he said the opposite was he pressured by someone?

If this is really a glimpse at the "behind the scenes" of how the rabbonim and askanim make their decisions, it is really sad.

and, as my friend Dani Waxman tweeted out today,

The most shocking part of the Shas tapes is that at about 7.5 minutes in there is a clear sound of a ringing iPhone.
— daniwaxman (@daniwaxman) December 29, 2014

He refers not to the clip above, but the one at http://www.kikar.co.il/159834.html

interesting

The letter of Rav Shalom Cohen banning women from academic institutions, even Haredi ones, has taken up much of the airwaves over the past couple of days. People are upset, people are supportive, stories are coming out how bad education is and how it caused people to stumble and has destroyed families, people are questioning, how could it be, Rav Ovadia's daughter, etc.

(as an aside, the most interesting story I heard, from a rabbi on the radio, was the one where a young women went to one of these academies and then got a job. At the job she became exposed to the internet, and then things changed with her spirituality - he didnt say what specifically,but it negatively affected the home and children - I found that story funny as it did not really have to do at all with the academy. In her workplace she used the Internet and that was the problem he described, but he blames the academy for her downfall.)

One comment in particular stood out for me.  MK Aliza Lavie (Yesh Atid) criticized Rav Cohen as becoming irrelevant and disconnected form the people. Lavie said he is trying to take the community many years backwards , and he is going directly against the moreshet, the legacy, of Rav Ovadia Yosef whose daughter founded the Michala Hacharedit, with the blessing of her father..

Without getting into debating Rav Cohen's words (I think most readers here know what I feel on this topic), I think MK Lavie is off-base. Rav Cohen is not obligated by Rav Ovadia's legacy. I dont even know if that can be called his legacy - just because it was one thing he did and supported, does that become his legacy? Who decides what someone's legacy is?

But even if it is the legacy of Rav Ovadia, why should Rav Cohen be obligated by it? Rav Cohen is a big boy and, to paraphrase Robin Ventura, he took a position, as head of the Moetzet of Shas, in which he had to put his big boy pants on. He can do what he feels is right, regardless of what Rav Ovadia thought. Rav Cohen is in charge now, he is the go-to rav, he makes the decisions. He does not have to follow someone else, but can do what he himself feels is right.

Statesmen are not obligated by Rabin's legacy, whatever it might be, or Ben Gurion's legacy or Menachem Begin's legacy, and rabbis are not obligated by Rav Ovadia's legacy, or Rav Shach's legacy, or the Brisker Rav's legacy.

Amazing story told by Rav Hershel Shechter about Rav Ovadiah Yosef's shidduch. And he tells it so emotionally..

There is an entire industry through which people pay a lot of money to touch or hold, or even just see, items that had been touched or used by someone famous. Holding such an item - a sword of Napoleon, or one of Ben Gurion's books, Michael Jackson's jacket, Marilyn Monroe's dress, or Queen Victoria's bloomers - makes one feel connected to history, connected to greatness. Even just being somewhere knowing that someone famous had been there - walking on a trail in Israel where we know the forefathers walked, being on Har Habayit knowing some of the figures in history who had been there before, standing where Abraham Lincoln was shot, etc.

So I understand the need, or desire, of some to take dirt from the previously uncovered grave of Rav Ovadiah Yosef, as was reportedly being done, and to sit on his chair or daven in his shul. It gives you the sense of being connected to history, being connected to a great man.

And then it turns into a segulah.

The craftsman who built one of the chairs used by Rav Ovadia Yosef zt"l has opened his doors to people who wish to sit upon the chair as a segulah.

Shlomi Dadon from Kiryat Motzkin specializes in designing and building furniture for shuls. About 8 years ago Dadon designed a chair that was to be used by Rav Ovadia. Rav Ovadia liked the chair so much, he decided to use it for a special shiur to a large crowd and it was moved to locations across the country for shiurim given by Rav Ovadia. For whatever reason, Rav Ovadia told Dadon to keep the chair and to just bring it for the shiurim when needed.

A few months ago, that would be even before the death of Rav Ovadia, a woman came asking to allow her thirty-something daughter to sit on the chair to help her find a shidduch. Sure enough, she found her soul-mate shortly after.

Dadon also relates the story of a young woman who was unable to give birth for 7 years, but two months after sitting on the chair she succeeded in getting pregnant.

Now, Dadon says, every day tens of people, both men and women, come to his shop to sit on the chair. Dadon does not charge money and does not claim the chair contains any powers. he says he just makes it available to the public as a chair that was sat upon by a holy man, and people can believe whatever they want.
(source: NRG)

(This reminded me of another segulah chair I read about a long time ago. I cannot find the information now, but I remember reading about a chair that had been used by the Baba Sali (I think) that was being used as a segulah for women to sit on to help them with getting pregnant and having an easy childbirth.)

Before our very eyes, a piece of history, a connection to a great man, becoming a segulah.






-------------------------------------------------------------
Donate to the Schneider Hospital so I can run the Schneider benefit marathon..

SHAS is running the following ad about the upcoming elections:


it says, when you are standing there behind the screen, you are not alone. Maran [Rav Ovadia] is looking at you from above with his holy eyes and seeing which ballot you select. Is your hand going to cut the treaty of peace with him?

Wait - I thought God watches us from above. I wasn't aware that as of last week that was changed to Rav Ovadia...
 דע מה למעלה ממך: עין רואה, אוזן שומעת, וכו


-------------------------------------------------------------
Donate to the Schneider Hospital so I can run the Schneider benefit marathon..

Rabbanit Yehudi Yosef, the wife of Rav Moshe Yosef and daughter in law of Rav Ovadia zt"l who basically took car eof Rav Ovadia ever since his wife Margalit died, sent out a notice that had a very interesting message.

In her message she thanked people for their praise of her and the great merit she had to care for her father in law.. The interesting part is that she said "Now nobody needs protexia anymore to go to Maran. His grave site is open 24 hours a day without any assistants. Whatever time of day you want you can go and get blessings!
(source: Bechadrei)

Was that a slip-up saying that access to him was filtered while he was alive? Those around rabbonim like to deny such claims, but Yehudit Yosef seems to be supporting it...

Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz has announced his decision to name a new highway to jerusalem after Rav Ovadia Yosef, zt"l.

Construction of the new highway is set to begin in the coming year. It is Highway 16, and will be a split off Highway 1 and be an additional main entrance into Jerusalem. The new highway will split off of Highway 1 at Motza, and enter Jerusalem between Shaarei Tzedek Hospital and the Begin Expressway. Much of the new highway will be underground via two tunnels - under Har Nof and under Yefeh Nof.

According to Katz he decided to name the new road after Rav Ovadia because he was a great figure for the entire nation and for the city of Jerusalem. Highway 16 will symbolically connect two great figures - Menachem Begin and Rav Ovadia via what will be the two main entrances to the city.
(source: NRG)

There is a long-standing debate about what is considered an appropriate commemoration of great people. Roads and parks are pretty standard for prime ministers and great leaders. Rav Ovadia definitely deserves it. The question is - a highway that is being driven on on Shabbos - is that really appropriate? Will that really bring his memory out in a good way? Just wondering out loud...

What an awesome story! There are aspects of it that I do not understand, but here goes:

Rav Dovid Kaduri, son of the great kabbalist Rav Yitzchak Kaduri, zt"l, went today to pay a shiva call to the sons of Rav Ovadia Yosef zt"l.

Rav Kaduri told the Yosef family a story that just happened. Just last night his father came to him in a dream. He described to his son the amazing reception that Rav Ovadia received in Heaven. He said that all the great leaders were there to greet him. but he himself was unable to be part of the reception.

Rav Dovid described that the forefathers were there, Moshe Rabbeinu, King David, the Tannaim and Amoraim, gedolim from all the generations..... were all there greeting Rav Ovadia, but he himself was not able to. Rav Dovid had asked his father why he was unable to attend, to which Rav Yitzchak Kaduri explained that he is on a different level in Heaven - the level of "Hassidut" - and form there he was not able to go to the level where the reception for Rav Ovadia was.
(source: Kikar, NRG)

I wish there was some additional explanation. Is Hassidut higher or lower than the one where the reception was? What was that one called? What happened at the reception? What did they look like? How often does he talk to his father in dreams? What else has his father told him?

I went to the funeral of Rav Ovadia Yosef, zt"l. Rav Ovadia was one of the gedolim and a great leader to his followers, and the massive crowds that attended the funeral, wherever the actual figure is in the range of 600k to 1 million people, attested to that.

Despite my being present, I really had no idea what was going on. I could not hear the hespedim or the proceedings, and my impressions and observations were only about the massive crowds in attendance.

Some views from my vantage point:







and then there is this crazy one being shown on various media... of people davening in and around the grave prior to the burial. It seems to be some sort of segulah for long life.





Yehi Zichro Baruch