In a shiur given in his beis medrash, Rav Amnon Yitzchak Shlita was critical of the Chief Rabbis of Israel for meeting with Pope Francis during his visit in Yerushalayim.
Rav Amnon stated that “those who go to meet with the pope today and shake his hand, with the Avi Avos HaTuma, for this they were elected… what merit, this is and idol, to shake the hand of the idol”.
“Was HKBH happy today seeing the Chief Rabbis of the State of Israel shaking the hand of the idol” he added, drawing an analogy to Korach, stating HKBH was humiliated.
Rav Amnon continued in an angry tone, making mention of Rishon L’Tzion HaGaon HaRav Yitzhak Yosef Shlita without using the title rav, questioning if wearing the glima (robe) is reason to compel one to shake the hand of the pope. “Now because of the glima you have to go or be fired. What is this disgrace – you represent religion in the State of Israel. Why do you become a rav, to be machshir the sheretz.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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16 Responses
Amnon Yitzchak is still upset the R’ Ovadia didn’t support his party
RABBENU YITZCHAK YOSEF IS A TRUE TALMID CHACHAM.
ONE OF THE GREAT HALACHIC AUTHORITIES OF OUR TIMES !
JUST PICK UP HIS 30 VOLUME SEFER CALLED YALKUT YOSEF.
IT WILL SPEAK FOR ITSELF.
THE COMMENTS ARE UNWARRANTED.
THE LITTLE TORAH THAT I KNOW IS FROM HIM.
And the tachlis of his criticism is?
This lunatic lost all credibility when he suggested hacham Ovadia was mehalel shabos to gain votes, pls stop posting his rankings or at least remove the title Rav.
Hey, even Yaakov Avinu hugged Esav. There are times when one is in a certain situation or holds a certain position has to do things that he wouldn’t normally want to do. This was one of those times. It is highly possible that the chief rabbis asked the gedolim how to deal with the situation.
Can you imagine the horrible headlines if they hadn’t shaken his hand? “Chief Rabbis Snub Pope” That’s all we would have needed.
So many problems here it is hard to figure out where to begin.
1) It is not even clear that the corpse of a non-Jew is a source of tumah; kal v’chomer a living non-Jewish human.
2) It is not clear that Christianity is idolatry; Rema and Meiri say no and Rambam says yes. But in any case no Christian worships the Pope; he is clearly not an idol.
3) Even a live sheretz is not a source of tumah and a human is certainly not a sheretz.
4) One can disagree with Rishon L’Tzion HaGaon HaRav Yitzhak Yosef Shlita in particular issues (particularly if you are of similar standing as a talmid chacham) while still acknowledging him that he is, in fact, a rabbi. There are halachot that apply here that appear to have been breached.
5) This pope is the sixth consecutive pope to be good to Jews. He even reversed 1900 years of supercessionist theology, completely eliminating the prime motivation for conversion efforts directed towards our people. He deserves hakarat hatov even though we disagree with his religious views.
A minority opinion as usual.
it’s not a simple issue. i was also disgusted to see the pope sitting between the two Rabbonim. But i once saw a picture of a choshuve rav in East Europe (forgot who) bowing before an archbishop. it’s safer to be criticized by Rav Amnon than by the PM.
There amnon yitzchak goes again… anyything to get at the Yosef family….
Give it up, ur done.
I wouldnt say that roshvirishon r amnon is a very powerfull guy he can curse and alll!!!
I would respectfully ask YWN to report when Amnon Yitzhak gives up his iPhone. Hypocrite.
This guy doesn’t know when to just keep quiet and not further insult two of the great rabbonim of our time. He has long had a vendetta agaisnt the Yosef family but why now drag Rav Lau, shlita through the mud? Any attention given to him is a waste of time and only feeds his already exaggerated sense of self-importance.
Omg !!!! I can’t believ pepole are speaking against a goan an mekubal like that I would just keep my comments to myself if its got any disrespect r amnon is very powerfull he can curse and bless so don’t start up besides for the multitudes he made from frum
here’s the speech
http://www.bhol.co.il/article_old.aspx?id=68756
he’s geshmack as ususal
I am disappointed with this rechilus article of YWN…
“Rav Amnon continued in an angry tone, making mention of Rishon L’Tzion HaGaon HaRav Yitzhak Yosef Shlita without using the title rav”
If you watch the actual context of the speech as linked by comment #14, you can see that he is referring to a young Rav Yitzchak Yosef, before he became a rav, which is why he doesn’t use the term “rav”. He did not say this to imply that he is not deserving of the title rav. Whether or not you agree or disagree with his statement is irrelevant – to twist his words out of context in order to make him sound like an extremist is assur. It’s an aveira of rechilus!! Shame on you, YWN-Israel Desk!
I wonder whether R’ Shteinman gave him a heter to disrespect R’ Yitzchak Yosef in public.
The fact that he has power to bless and curse does not justify the chilul Hashem he is making!
On the contrary, if he would like to continue possessing such power, he should reconsider the words that emanate from his mouth!!