Emergency Sephardi rabbinic gathering in Bnei Brak calls for response to arrests and 'disrespect for Torah'

A broad emergency gathering of dozens of Sephardi community rabbis and heads of institutions was held on Thursday at the Halichot Moshe study hall in Bnei Brak’s Ramat Aharon neighborhood. The meeting was led by neighborhood rabbi Shabtai Levi, under the direction of senior rabbi Nissim Ben Shimon and Rabbi Shlomo Mufchad, a member of the Council of Torah Sages.

The event was convened to present a firm stance from the Sephardi Torah world and as a preemptive protest against what participants described as severe decrees and the arrests of yeshiva students and kollel scholars. Throughout the evening, rabbis and institution heads stressed the need to preserve the status of Torah study, condemned what they called ongoing and deliberate contempt for Torah learners, and urged unity and a public outcry.

Ben Shimon delivered the main address. Citing the Talmudic saying, “Whoever humiliates Torah scholars has no cure for his wound,” he spoke directly about the attorney general, saying she is expected to feel unwell next week until she regrets her actions. He concluded with a call to the public, “All of us must strengthen ourselves, and all of us together must awaken.”

At the end of the gathering, participants decided to hold a large rally in the streets of Bnei Brak on Saturday night, after Parashat Balak. Organizers said the rally will include all community rabbis, yeshiva heads, kollelim heads, and leading sages in the city, and may feature significant declarations and even “far-reaching steps” that will shape the Sephardi Torah world’s next public course of action. Preparations for the rally are already underway, with a particularly large turnout expected from communities and religious institutions across the city.