Rav Ovadia Yosef passed away yesterday at the age of 93 and was accompanied by an estimated one million mourners to his final resting place in Jerusalem.
Rav Ovadia served as Chief Rabbi of Israel for many years, founded numerous Yeshivot, was a huge Baki, authored many seforim and was the spiritual mentor to countless Sefardim. He also founded the Shas party, and was influential in many an Israeli election.
I've been to many mass Levayos, among them Rav Moshe Feinstein ZTL and the Steipler Rav ZTL, but I was shocked at the sheer numbers of attendees by ROY's Levaya, and was wondering why he merited to have the largest funeral in Eretz Yisroel's history.
Perhaps the answer is that he single-handedly raised the banner of Torah among the Sefardim, giving them self-worth and equalizing them among their Ashkenazik brethren.
Yehi Zichro Baruch.
It's not just that. Most "Gedolim" today are halachic machines, out of touch with the hamon am they lead. Was it so long ago that Rav Eliashiv,zt"l, passed away and we were told that one of the surest signs of his godlus was that he didn't even know most of his own children's names and never spoke with female family members?
ReplyDeleteRav Ovadia, zt"l, remained a warm human being willing to show normal emotions. That endeared him to the masses, even those not directly connected to him.
godlus was that he didn't even know most of his own children's names
DeleteWelcome back, MGI.
I believe the above is exageration, as I highly doubt anyone could not know the names of one's own children.
Rav Shlomo Zalman ZTL, who was escorted by 2 or 3 hundred thousand, was overly warm. Yet here we saw a turnout several times that.
"Unlike any other mass funerals of great ultra-Orthodox leaders, here young adherents of Lithuanian-brand Judaism, in sleek modern suits and broad-brimmed Borsalino hats, crowded next to Yiddish-speaking Hassidic men in long beards and ear-locks. Groups of National Zionist teens with knitted kippot and dangling tzitzit (ritual fringes) stood next to fathers and sons with no kippa at all."
ReplyDeleteits complicated
ReplyDeleteMost profound statement that has come out of the mouth of a donkey in several thousand years. :-)
Deletebrevity is the soul of amkus
DeleteMagnificent photograph. His turban looks crowned!
ReplyDelete