JERUSALEM A member of the Sephardi haredi Orthodox Shas partys rabbinical council called the modern Orthodox community Amalek, referring to the archenemy of the Jewish people.
Rabbi Shalom Cohen of the Shas Council of Torah Sages made the statement on July 13 in Jerusalem with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the partys spiritual leader, sitting alongside him.
They were at an event announcing the candidacy of Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, Ovadia Yosefs youngest son, for Sephardic chief rabbi.
Cohen referred to the modern Orthodox community as kipa sruga, or knitted kipah.
As long as there are knit kippot, the throne [of G-d] is not whole. Thats Amalek, he said in comments captured on a video posted Sunday, July 14, on the haredi Orthodox website Kikar Shabbat, Israeli media reported Sunday. When will the throne be whole? When there is no knit kipah.
Read related IJN editorial, “Amalek? For shame“
Are these people even Jews? he asked. We would be unfortunate to end up with a [chief] rabbi who wears a knitted kipah.
Government minister Naftali Bennett, the leader of the modern Orthodox Jewish Home party, slammed the comments in a statement on Facebook and called on haredi Orthodox leaders to condemn them.
For those who dont know, Amalek is an expression referring to someone who must be wiped off the face of the earth. No less. At this very moment, thousands of knit-kipah wearers are standing guard from the Syrian border to the Egyptian, from brigade commanders down to the lowliest soldiers, and are spitting blood to defend even the honorable rabbi, Bennett wrote.
On the eve of Tisha BAv, I call on all the leaders and representatives of the ultra-Orthodox public: Even if you are not in the government, even if we have political disputes, you must condemn and decry this type of discourse.
