The
Amalekites were a sect of the
Canaanites who attacked the
Israelites from the rear, killing many women and children. King
Saul was ordered by
G-d to kill all of the
Amalekites, but instead he spared their king. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef declared that Yossi Sarid, the leader of (at the time) the
Meretz Party (the most left wing party in the
Knesset) was an
Amalekite, which is probably the closest one can get to an
incitement to
violence in
Judaism.
Having held the office of
Sephardi Chief Rabbi of
Israel some time in the 60’s or 70’s, Ovadia became the spiritual leader of the
Shas party, and, for a time, one of the most powerful men in
Israel. Israel’s elections work on a
proportional representation system, and, as such, any government needs to be a
coalition of parties. This means that the second largest party in the
coalition is the most powerful, since it can threaten to walk out if it does not get what it wants.
Shas spent most of the last 10 years as the third largest party, and hence, Ovadia was one of the most powerful men is
Israel for a time.
Many Israeli’s see him as a source of inspiration and a role model, given that he is one of the greatest
Talmudic Scholars alive today, despite being
blind. Others see him as an anachronism, a symbol of everything bad about
orthodox Judaism. Then again, some people see him as a
joke figure who sits in a
throne and wears an ornamented
cereal bowl on his head…
Editors note: After being hospitalized for a series of illnesses, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef died Monday October 7, 2013. He was 93 years old.