Spiritual Head Of Sefardi Haredi Shas Party Refuses To Bless IDF Soldiers, Insists “Israel Does Not Need An Army”

During a special prayer service at the Kotel (Western Wall) featuring the recitation of psalms on behalf of IDF soldiers, Rabbi Shalom Cohen announced to shocked worshippers that “Israel does not need an army!"

Above: Rabbi Shalom Cohen

Spiritual Head Of Sefardi Haredi Shas Party Refuses To Bless IDF Soldiers, Insists “Israel Does Not Need An Army”
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

The spiritual leader of the Sefardi haredi Shas Party told his followers yesterday that Israel does not need the IDF.

During a special prayer service at the Kotel (Western Wall) on behalf of IDF soldiers that featured the recitation of psalms, Rabbi Shalom Cohen announced to shocked worshippers that “Israel does not need an army!…Do you think that the People of Israel need an army?! It is God Almighty who fights for Israel!” Cohen thundered.

The Jerusalem Post reports that when “stunned worshipers” responded by asking Cohen to offer a blessing for IDF soldiers, Cohen refused to do so and caustically replied, “Do you think you are fighting?! I am fighting for you. We [already] screamed out to God: ‘Save us without inflicting any more sorrow on the people of Israel!’”

Cohen succeeded the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who passed away in October, as Shas’ spiritual head. 

The head of Hiddush, a nonprofit that fights for freedom of and from religion in Israel, lashed out at Cohen.

“If the country doesn’t need an army, then there’s no doubt that the yeshivas and Torah students don’t need budgets from the treasury. From now on, they can put their faith in the Lord when it comes to asking for money to fund their education systems. We will help the ultra-Orthodox in saying earnest prayers for money to start growing on trees. At the end of the day, most of us believe that we do need an army, but we are quite uncertain as to whether we need Shas,” the head of Hiddush, Reform Rabbi Uri Regev, reportedly said.

Comments

[Jeff]

>>At the end of the day, most of us believe that we do need an army, but we are quite uncertain as to whether we need Shas,” the head of Hiddush, Reform Rabbi Uri Regev, reportedly said.

Oh, I hope he really did say it.

[jancsibacsi]

Primitive apes is what they are theese so called rabbis,they are leading their flocks into an abyss with stupid statements like his.

[Michael-Meir]

Rabbi Cohen: if you had been present would you have objected to Joshua's orders to Reuven, Gad, and half of Menashe to take up arms (Joshua 1:12-14)?

[Account Deleted]

Well then, that well honed Gemorah logic would certainly agree that welfare from the same State that support that Army is not needed, nor is their healthcare.

There are actually a handful of consistent thinkers in Geula who do reject ALL government help, but those guys are usually rooting for Hamas control.

[Alter Kocker]

Time to stop all monetary support for these traitors. In any other country, this fool would not be the spiritual head of a party, he would be wearing prison greys and would have a number, if not awaiting execution.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Can a Mitzvah Tank stand up to an RPG?

[Sima]

This article is a big lie go to ynet in Hebrew and you'll find out the he did bless the soldiers and said that they are all making kidush hashem
Get your facts better and stop telling hateful lies

[smoke & mirrors]

How ironic... they don't need his blessing

[Topsy Turvy]

It's difficult to understand his position.

We know that we don't rely on miracles.

We must be mispallel and learn for those of us who are not fighting.

A friend of mine mentioned to me that daf yomi recently learned about Yehoshua and his involvement of learning deeply , which he could not do during battle.

No other Spiritual leader present or past has expressed himself in this manner.

[Yosef ben Matitya]

the man belongs in a madhouse.
wonder how he survives at shas, and why they appointed him. wonder why they didn't chose rabbi shelomo amar.

[Yahoshua David]

He should read the Torah.. It's filled with armies and battles to protect Jewish soverignty. But maybe they've drifted off into their own man made philosophies.

Like seriously im amazed he'd say such things. Take 2000 years of normal Judaism and like out of nowhere around about 1820 these Rabbi's start to appear on the scene from Russia, Ukraine, Lithuania..

Before that it was always Rome, italy, Spain, Egypt, Morrocco, Iraq, Argentina.

Im still trying to figure out how these masses appeared in Russia almost out of nowhere because their thought relies so much on Russian pagan based superstition - not real Torah.

[Ron]

@Yahoshua David,

And where are now all the Rabbis from the places you cited?

As a sidenote, sephardim do not come from Russia, Ukraine, or Lithuania

[Rodin]

I think one of the seven dwarfs is missing. Has anyone seen Sneezy lately?

[SucceededMesiah]

Where is Edmund Safra when you need him..

C'mon Shalom, do you need to be fully observant to be a tzaddik? Even Reb Ovadia flew out of Israel to meet him.

[Mee-Samcha?]

I am stunned by the idiocy of these statements. We will soon read the Parsha of Ki-Teytze, as in Ki-Tyetze L'Milchama - When you go out to war, which contains many of the laws of waging battle. The soldiers referred to in the Torah weren't sitting and learning, they were fighting with swords, bows an arrows and shields on the front lines.

Rabbi Aryeh Levin a"h, the "Tzaddik of Yerushaliyim" a universally loved and respected leader of the Jewish people treasured each and every Israeli soldier and treated them as heroes. He cried for them when they injured or killed. The last brachia he gave before he died was to a soldier. Comments like Rabbi Cohen's are a disgrace to Reb Aryeh's memory and to Jews everywhere.

[Account Deleted]

Great comment Mee-Samcha?. refreshing to see a member of the faithful with the moral clarity to call foul on the the leadership when appropriate.

[Turvey Topsey]

Let's stop the fighting (among ourselves)and try reuniting.

[Mee-Samcha?]

@Turvey Topsey

As I read your comment I heard the opening bars of "The Impossible Dream" coming up in the background.

[William G.]

I do have to say I admire this guys Pacifist chutzpah, he's like a Haredi Gandhi.

[exgaon]

@SIMA JULY 24 10:56am:
Well, I am logged on to ynet, and can't seem to find the article you cite, re s. cohen saying prayers for IDF soldiers. My search somehow is not pulling it up. Could you provide a link, substantiating your claim, please?? thank you.
I did find many many sites that claimed that he did not. but, giving you the benefit of the doubt, I went to YNET, in Hebrew, kamuvan, and have yet to locate the article.