Lapid's Yesh Atid party wants haredim to serve in Israel’s military,
equally sharing the burden of the country’s defense with other Israeli
Jews. Haredi leaders, including Yosef, insist that all haredim who
choose to study full time in yeshivas, rabbinical schools, should be
allowed to do so for their entire adult lives. These yeshiva students
should receive state subsidies, increased welfare benefits and be
exempted from military service – the current status quo – haredi leaders
insist.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef
Lapid A “Wicked Yeshiva Hater,” Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Says
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The founder and spiritual leader of the Sefardi haredi Shas political party Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef attacked the head of the Yesha Atid political party tonight. Speaking during his regular Saturday night public lecture, the 92-year-old Yosef reportedly called Yair Lapid “a wicked yeshiva hater.”
Lapid's Yesh Atid party wants haredim to serve in Israel’s military, equally sharing the burden of the country’s defense with other Israeli Jews. Haredi leaders, including Yosef, insist that all haredim who choose to study full time in yeshivas, rabbinical schools, should be allowed to do so for their entire adult lives. These yeshiva students should receive state subsidies, increased welfare benefits and be exempted from military service – the current status quo – haredi leaders insist.
In his talk tonight, Yosef also called Lapid “contemptible” and compared him to the arch enemy of the Jewish people from the biblical story of the upcoming Jewish holiday of Purim, Haman.
“Every time he [Mordechai, the Jewish leader] would come to the king, they would talk about security, about the coalition and the opposition. Everyone would be discussed between them and he would give him advice on how to act: ‘Don’t go with Lapid. He is wicked, he hates yeshivas,’ Yosef said.