Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita has come out is a sharp verbal attack against Rabbi David Stav and his Tzohar Rabbis organization. The rav made his comments during his motzei Shabbos shiur, accusing Tzohar rabbonim of “doing most serious things”.
He accuses Tzohar of appointing a female rabbi, who stands in front of a congregation and speaks on Friday night “Hashem Yerachem”, adding Tzohar invites women to make sheva brachos and “’יוצר האדם’ – ‘יוצר הבהמה’”.
Rav Yosef adds, “At times people are confused and they take the כוחא דהיתרא from Yabia Omer to mean they can do as they please when this is not so, but one must act within parameters of halacha”.
In response, Tzohar has issued a statement that Rabbi Yosef is simply incorrect and his statements are not factually accurate and therefore prohibited under the laws of loshon hora.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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5 Responses
Quote from Rav Stav (Ohr Torah Stone website):
“From the beginning, I have dedicated my professional life to ensuring the accessibility of Judaism and the synthesis of Torah study and modern living,” says Rabbi Stav. “This is why I feel such a strong connection to the vision and values of Ohr Torah Stone. I am delighted to join the network alongside Rabbi Riskin, and trust that I will be able to assist in bringing OTS to the next level. My goal is to assist in formulating a singular message and to unify all of the institutions’ activities under that banner as we pave the network’s educational path into the future.”
Riskin’s quote:
“Rabbi Stav’s values, worldview and goals match those of OTS: promoting outreach, acceptance and inclusion, making Judaism accessible, building bridges between contemporary challenges and the principles of halakha, and seeking the greatest common denominator amongst all segments of am yisrael,” says Rabbi Riskin. “On the basis of these ideals Rabbi Stav and I have cooperated widely and often in the past, and it was only natural from our point of view to ask him to join us in the navigation of our growing network.”
OTS values:
“…over the past three decades, OTS has emerged as this guiding light in every important Jewish societal change, charting new educational, legal and social paths to groundbreaking change in the realms of women’s rights within Judaism…”
OTS Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute for Halakhic Leadership Program:
The Susi Bradfield Women’s Institute of Halakhic Leadership (WIHL) at Midreshet Lindenbaum is the only modern Orthodox Israeli enterprise which is systematically training our most talented women for entry into the great halakhic conversation from which they have been largely excluded for the past 2,500 years.
The program provides the most outstanding and committed female scholars with the opportunity to master an expansive curricula in Talmud and Halakha identical to that studied by men who are training for rabbinical ordination. Program fellows sit for the same examinations given to male rabbis-in-training, and program graduates are equal in knowledge and skill to their male rabbinical counterparts.
Indeed, Jewish law directs the lives of Orthodox women no less than it directs the lives of Orthodox men. It is therefore imperative to train women leaders who are well-versed in the law and can thus influence the halachic decision-making process for all of modern Orthodox society – men as well as women.
IT SEEMS QUITE CLEAR FROM OTS’s WEBSITE THAT RAV YOSEF’S ASSESSMENT IS INDEED CORRECT!
If the comments weren’t true, wouldn’t’t that make them מוציא שם רע (chas veshalom) and not לשון הרע?
I’ll take Rishon L’Tzion Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef Shlita against Rabbi David Stav and his Tzohar Rabbis organization any day. The former is an outstanding talmid chochom with a keen grip of halacaha, mesora and the present day world. The latter is a nice man with a semicha that he doesn’t really relate to.
Read the entire #1
Just the fact that he partnered with the kofer Riskin is enough for me. The rest of number 1 is just icing on the cake