Lawyer Who Refused Supreme Court Seat Recounts Life of Faith and Legal Battles
Dr. Nisan Sharifi, a lawyer with two doctorates and former chairman of the Regional Radio Committee, shared a wide-ranging life story in an interview on the "HaShem Echad" program. His narrative spanned from a childhood involved in activism and bus burnings with the Black Panthers, through a spiritual awakening in the navy that led him to religious observance, to his close relationship with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
One of Sharifi's most dramatic stories involved the clandestine smuggling of a 400-year-old Torah scroll from Baghdad to Israel. He recounted how he obtained the scroll, which belonged to Rabbi Yosef Haim sofer, from an American military commander in Iraq. The scroll, written on gazelle skin, now resides in a synagogue in Netanya named after his mother. Sharifi also revealed ongoing efforts to retrieve other ancient texts from Baghdad, noting a black market for such artifacts.
Sharifi detailed his early life, including his involvement with the Black Panthers in his youth, where he admits to participating in burning buses. His spiritual transformation occurred during his military service as a combat medic in the navy, leading him to become strictly observant and to advocate for kosher food in the military, a battle he eventually won with the help of Rabbi Shlomo Goren.
His legal career included representing Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in a tax evasion complaint, which Sharifi asserts was baseless. He described Rabbi Yosef's profound wisdom and humility, and recounted a personal experience where the Rabbi's blessing seemingly extended his mother's life by ten years after she was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Sharifi also revealed that Rabbi Yosef twice physically struck him, once when he offered to give up his law license to serve the Rabbi, and again when he was offered a position on the Supreme Court, with the Rabbi warning him he would "burn in the fires of hell" if he accepted.
Sharifi expressed strong criticism of the Israeli judicial system, alleging a bias against religious Jews and citing instances where he believes secular judges have acted improperly. He also discussed his legal battles to establish religious institutions, including a school and synagogue in the secular "Ir Yamim" neighborhood of Netanya, and his efforts to regulate content on Israeli radio and television, advocating for quality programming over "trash."
