The Sephardi Torah world is preparing a major protest on Saturday night in Bnei Brak, after recent incidents of violence and the arrest of yeshiva students. The rally, described as an unprecedented public outcry, will be led by Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef and senior rabbis and roshei yeshiva. Rabbi Shabtei Levi, rabbi of Bnei Brak's Ramat Aharon neighborhood and head of the Halichot Moshe institutions, discussed the plans Wednesday night in an interview with Yaakov Grodka on the Kol Barama central news program.
Levi said Yosef is treating the event as highly exceptional and was even prepared to skip his regular weekly class at the Hezdim synagogue in Jerusalem to attend in person. He noted that the class is a long-standing institution associated with Yosef's father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, and said the chief rabbi would send a replacement there, but would come to Bnei Brak himself because, in Levi's words, there is no more room for silence over the humiliation of Torah scholars.
Levi said budget cuts and the closure of daycare services for married students were difficult but manageable. The real crisis, he said, is the degradation of Torah scholars. Citing the Hida and a passage in Yoreh Deah 282, he recalled a case in which a community fasted after a Torah scroll fell, and said that a Torah scroll can cost 150,000 to 160,000 shekels depending on its level of beautification, but cannot answer questions, while a yeshiva student or married learner is a “living Torah scroll” who walks the streets and responds to halachic questions. “How did we get to such a disgrace in the Holy Land?” he asked.
The main rally is set for Rabinov 7 in Bnei Brak, near the Halichot Moshe complex in Ramat Aharon. Levi stressed that the gathering will involve no violence, roadblocks, or provocation, but rather mourning and lament over the desecration of Torah and divine honor. He said it should feel like Tisha B'Av and called on anyone with even a trace of Torah spirit and fear of Heaven to attend. Kol Barama said it would fully cover the event live and broadcast speeches from leading rabbis throughout Saturday night.
