Rabbonim of Shas Reject Aryeh Deri’s Resignation Request: DRAMA CONTINUES!

Deri's resignation letter

And so the drama continues, with the holy Sfardi Rabbis asking the jailbird Deri to stay on and continue leading the Shas party!

Insane!

The Moetzet Chachmei Hatorah of Shas has rejected a request by party chairman Aryeh Deri that he be permitted to resign as chairman of the party. 

The rejection was agreed at a late-night meeting, following the receipt of a letter from Deri in which he asked to be relieved of the leadership.

Deri’s request was the latest bombshell in a long-running feud between Deri and former party leader Eli Yishai. It followed the release on Sunday of recordings of statements by Rav Ovadia Yosef zt”l.

Haaretz reports that in his letter, Deri wrote: “The pain that pierced my heart yesterday was worse than that when [Rav Yosef] died… I decided to come before [the council] to return the responsibility that you entrusted to me.”

Yishai left the party two weeks ago to found a new party, Ha’am Itanu.

Deri responded to the tapes on Sunday by saying that Yishai was trampling Rav Yosef’s honor “for his petty personal interests … he betrayed the trust the rav placed in him,” Haaretz reported.

It is speculated that Deri offered his resignation, hoping that they would reject his offer and that they will ask him to stay on, which he hopes will bolster his standing as a result.

Rabbi Stav tells off Arye Deri "I won't take criticism from convicted criminals"

Candidate for the chief rabbinate Rabbi David Stav said on Thursday that while he respected Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef he would not take criticism from convicted criminals.

Stav made the remark, seemingly a reference to the past conviction for bribery of Shas chairman Arye Deri, at the President’s Conference during a live conversation with veteran reporter Ilana Dayan.

Asked about how he felt after Yosef, the spiritual leader of the Shas movement, fiercely denounced Stav last week, the rabbi said that he greatly respected Yosef and his rulings in Jewish law and had based many of his own opinions on those of Yosef himself.

“I don’t need to take criticism from people in people in Shas who are convicted criminals and who are not aware of the works and rulings of their own rabbi,” Stav said acerbically, in reference to the increasingly strict interpretation of Jewish law in the haredi community despite the relatively lenient rulings Yosef has issued in the past on several important issues.

Referring to the political challenge of getting elected by the 150-member electoral committee, many of whom are loyal to haredi parties, Stav said that he was still optimistic that he could get the requisite number of votes.

He added that although Likud has still not publicly backed him, along with reports that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu favors Rabbi David Lau for the position, Stav noted that there “many Likud MKs who do or will support me either publicly or privately for chief rabbi.”

Asked why the prime minister was not endorsing him, Stav said that it was a question for the prime minister himself.

During the discussion, Stav was challenged as to exactly how he will bring change to the chief rabbinate if he remained committed to an Orthodox interpretation of Jewish law.

Stav replied that he hoped to turn the chief rabbinate into a body that could inspire people to be proud of their heritage and to want to uphold it, but said that damage had been inflicted to the institution and to the image of religion in Israel over the past two decades.

The elections for both the positions of chief rabbi have now been scheduled for the week of July 24.

Content is provided courtesy of the Jerusalem Post