Doctors "Kill The Living," Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Says

In his weekly sermon Saturday night, Shas' spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef addressed the abortion issue, saying that "there are reckless doctors....Who see that a child will be blind or without arms or legs...They do not understand that today there is equipment that brings the dead back to life, but they kill the living."

Rabbi Yosef: Doctors kill the living
In weekly sermon, Shas' spiritual leader recalls how mothers he convinced not to have abortions gave birth to healthy babies
Kobi Nahshoni • Ynet

In his weekly sermon Saturday night, Shas' spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef addressed the abortion issue, saying that "there are reckless doctors....Who see that a child will be blind or without arms or legs...They do not understand that today there is equipment that brings the dead back to life, but they kill the living."

Rabbi Yosef's sermon focused on Parashat Shemot, which mentions Pharaoh's decree that all first born sons of the Israelites must be killed and the attempts of Hebrew midwives to thwart it.

The rabbi, who is Shas' spiritual leader, recalled how he had convinced a woman not to have an abortion and promised her that her son would be healthy. "She gave birth to a sweet child, and today is his wedding," the rabbi said, adding that he had convinced other parents to do the same and they ended up having healthy children as well.

During the sermon Rabbi Yosef praised the pro-choice organization EFRAT, calling its employees "righteous."

Earlier this week, Israel's Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar called on all Israeli rabbis to fight the "abortion epidemic in our country."

The chief rabbis instructed them to "bring up the Exodus Torah reading during their sermon on Saturday regarding the "biblical prohibition to kill fetuses in their mothers' intestines."

Comments

[nobody]

Well, don't conflate the issues. I don't know what R. Ovadia is talking about with reckless doctors or abortions, but the fact is 'friends of Efrat' is a very righteous organization.

[yidandahalf]

Why is that guy dressed up like a Greek Eastern Orthodox or something?

[ruthie]

I NEVER LIKED THIS GUY. since my neighbor told me more than 10 years ago she paid him in israel and then he was NICE enough to bless her son!
why doesn't he just shut up?
SHUT UP
i'm not for abortion...not at all.
but i am for freedom FOR woman doing what she wants with her body. would be nice if he showed some compassion but he's too STUPID.
does he just say this kind of stuff to stay in the press?
also manis freidman, a religious rabbi, always told his students if you want an abortion have it early so it's called a d&c and it's not officially an abortion but still gets rid!!!! of the kid.
these religious people have got it all figured out. but this shas guy...is a piece of fucking garbage.
pardon my language.

[YbM]

these religious people have got it all figured out. but this shas guy...is a piece of fucking garbage.
pardon my language.

oooh rutho,
you come across as a distinguished and educated person.
as to your language, it seems to be a mirror of your lofty persona. no need to pardon it.

[jancsipista]

ruthie what do you want from a person who has dementia his flock doesnt want to ackowledge it definitly he is not all there, his old age is the culprit his personality today reflects his younger years he was never really there he lived a very sheltered life he doesnt really understand the real world since his make beleive world is all he had

[Ann Landsman]

Dear Ruthie,
I think you are in denial. You obviously got the hots for Rav Ovadia, otherwise you would not refer to him as "a piece of fucking garbage". Look at his picture above, he is pointing at YOU. It is reciprocal; he is available. Go for it!
Cordially yours,
Ann Landsman

[sanhedrin are for cave dwellers]

the medical community kills more people globally than they save

[ruthie]

YbM
oooh rutho,

the hardest part blogging on this site is that english is not my mother tongue. has made me feel inferior, incompetent and incapable MANY times. i know i can't write well....
i'll leave it to educated people like you from now on.

[sanhedrin are for cave dwellers]

the medical community is responsible for global pandemics and murder. most of them are perverts and heartless cruel greedy wenches who serve like robots without emotion

[jay]

I would ask which so-called pandemics our physicians have created, but I'm afraid that I'd get a response. Conspiracy theories are so enticing- but rarely do they have a basis in reality.

Also, the article is in error. Efrat is a pro-life organization, not pro-choice. They offer funding to poor women who are considering abortion solely for economic reasons.

[Mr. Apikoros]

This POS (Ovadia Yosef) is a poster boy for abortion on demand.

[David]

Eh. I'm no fan of R' Yosef, but he's right on this. Efrat is a worthy organization, and abortion-on-demand is morally questionable at best.

[Isa]

"""also manis freidman, a religious rabbi, always told his students if you want an abortion have it early so it's called a d&c and it's not officially an abortion but still gets rid!!!! of the kid."""

There is some logic to this...
A fetus 30 days or less old needs no burial

I could have the number of the days mixed up

[Maverick]

"They do not understand that today there is equipment that brings the dead back to life..."

While Medicine has achieved amazing things, there are some things that it has yet to accomplish. Past a certain point people cannot be resuscitated, there are limits to prosthetic limbs, etc.

"biblical prohibition to kill fetuses in their mothers' intestines."

It should be noted Tosfot, among others, apparently holds that abortion is muttar. If the "Exodus Torah" decides to pasken like Tosfot, that is their prerogative.

[Aleksandr Sigalov]

Earlier this week, Israel's Chief Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar called on all Israeli rabbis to fight the "abortion epidemic in our country."

If they are against "abortion as a form of contraception" thingy - I support them!

[ruthie]

30 days or less...
this has to be made up by men...

[ruthie]

i meant to say but was so taken aback....i UNDERSTAND the sensible 30 days law...but really manis friedman was going well beyond 30 days when he said that. it was meant as a loophole...after that isn't there something if the mother's life is in danger...always something.
except a woman's right to her own body.
just sayin'

[esther]

maybe it should exist a way to direct unwanted children to infertile couples... there are lots of jewish couples that would give an arm/leg/any limb to have children... in an open adoption system the 'physhio' parents could follow the child's development and seeing him/her been raised by a family that can offer then love and means for a life with dignity.
efrat is a good organization but they help is just during the pregnancy... after the child is born, its up to the parents (or single mother) to raise him/her... and i don't know any follow up of how these children are raised.

[uncle joe mccarthy]

halachically, abortion is not murder, and i know of cases where a woman's life was not in danger, just her health, and the abortion was allowed....and im talking emotional health...not physical

i dont like it when rav yosef's shiurim are parsed out and not printed in toto

[jay]

Halchically it depends on the condition of the mother. A physically and emotionally healthy mother who elects to abort a child would not be seen in that same light, uncle Joe.

[nachos]

the medical community is responsible for global pandemics and murder. most of them are perverts and heartless cruel greedy wenches who serve like robots without emotion

Posted by: sanhedrin are for cave dwellers | December 27, 2010 at 08:40 AM

Woolsilkcotton:

I will let you take this guy on!!

[nachos]

Posted by: ruthie | December 27, 2010 at 06:39 AM

I am not trying to start an argument, While a woman's body might be her own, don't you think that if a woman decides early in the pregnancy to keep the baby, then eventually there should be a point of no return. In the U.S. it is legal to abort right up to the point of birth. Late term abortion is a brutal procedure that happens often and is basically murder.

[Bilaam's Donkey]

>>

Ruthie -- Fine, you "FOR woman doing what she wants with her body." But you apparently aren't very tolerant of free speech. At least based on these words, Ovadia Yosef didn't call on the government to arrest abortion doctors, or send women to jail for having abortions. Instead, the context appears to be "pro-choice" in the sense that women should choose life, and doctors should choose other kinds of work.

I fail to see the problem with a religious figure expressing his personal opinion on a moral issue. You might disagree with his opinion (although I don't see how anyone could find anything he said objectionable). But saying he should just "SHUT UP" isn't very tolerant.

[seymour]

The chief rabbis instructed them to "bring up the Exodus Torah reading during their sermon on Saturday regarding the "biblical prohibition to kill fetuses in their mothers' intestines."

maybe someone can help me where that is stated in the bible.

Wow hey Rabbi Ovadia Yosef maybe you can be really honest with the flock and tell us how many woman you told the baby would be healthy and it did not work out that way

[ruthie]

NACHOS....i would NEVER ever advocate late term abortion...that's murder.

[nachos]

Posted by: ruthie | December 27, 2010 at 08:10 PM
Thus, we can agree that there is a point in time where a woman cannot use the excuse that it is her body and she can do whatever she likes.

[ruthie]

no, i didn't say that.
i just stated my own personal opinion. if another woman, maybe because of rape, whatever, did want to do that...i wouldn't agree but i wouldn't stop her.

[nachos]

Posted by: ruthie | December 27, 2010 at 09:54 PM
I guess what I am saying is there needs to be a point where a decision has been made and the woman needs to stick by it. If she was raped, I don't think she has the right to have an abortion in the eighth month. She could have taken the morning after pill and the event would have been between her and G-d, but to decide in the eighth month is murder. Do you kinda get what I mean. I am not sure that I am expressing myself well. Once again, I am just trying to have a serious respectful dialogue with you.

[ruthie]

i do understand you. i agree with you. it's still her body.
you are being very respectful...thank you.

[nobody]

How did a fetus get inside an intestine?

[Ovadia Ben Zona]

When will this odious vermin just die?

[Shmarya]

When will this odious vermin just die?

Posted by: Ovadia Ben Zona | December 28, 2010 at 01:05 PM

A bit over the top, don't you think?

Wishing for someone's death is usually a very bad thing to do, and this case is certainly no exception.

[David]

I'm inclined to agree with R. Yosef on this one. He's got a legitimate ethical position, and he's sticking to it. Leaving aside all the "right to choose" business, it's hard to get past the notion that an abortion still ends a human life. If a human life has genuine value (and Judaism surely teaches that it does), then abortion must be, at best, a highly questionable activity.