Shas is upset about a Dati Leumi weekly paper that they say has degraded Rav Ovadiah Yosef, the "poseik haDor".
The weekly "Matzav haRuach" - a paper I have not heard of before but it is probably more like a parsha pamphlet distributed in shuls rather than a newspaper, has published an article about the attack of Rav Ovadiah Yosef on HaBayit HaYehudi and Naftali Bennet in which the author said "a string of abusive comments from Shas, the type that one would not even hear from the last of the Basta-owners in Mahane Yehuda".
A senior Shas official said in response, that the original attack is clearly justified considering what they now wrote about Rav Ovadiah. "If this contemptible paper could shame the Gadol haDor like this, it seems Maran was correct when he attacked them and called them a Bayit of Goyim. I recommend to them to not wait for an apology from the poseik haDor."
(source: Kikar)
I love that response, and this entire post was really written just to point out that backwards logic - it was right to attack them initially and call them gentiles, among other things, because in response they retorted that Rav Ovadiah said things that were more abusive than anything even the crassest of people might say. That makes no sense and made me laugh when I first read it. Besides for that, they did not call Rav Ovadiah names, as he did to them, but criticized what he said. Perhaps it was still disrespectful, but it wasn't quite a degradation of the poseik hador.
With the headlines of all the papers today quoting Rav Ovadiah as now calling Yair Lapid a "menuval", I think it is time to call for our politicians and leaders to foment unity and, perhaps even more important and urgently, civility. They should deal with the issues, fight over policy, negotiate and debate and be obstinate, but with respect for each other, with civility and with honor.
Religion Magazine
