Facing vitriol from haredi rabbis, Stav turns the other cheek

Rabbi David Stav, the religious Zionist contender for the position of Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi, commented Wednesday on his assault by ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students earlier this week, saying he found the act to be „a great sacrilege.”

Stav, who has been endorsed by Habayit Hayehudi, Yesh Atid, Hatnuah and Israel Beytenu parties, was physically assaulted on Sunday, as he was leaving a wedding in Jerusalem. The attack followed a statement made Saturday night by Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef during his weekly Torah class, denouncing Stav as „a man who has no fear of God.”

„This statement can only fan the flames of hatred against the Torah and Israel’s rabbis,” Stav said in a special interview with Israel Hayom’s weekend magazine, which will be published Friday.

„I am convinced that it was the work of ill-wishers and gossipers that has led Rabbi Ovadia to these conclusions. I was hurt, both for myself and for the people of Israel. I have the greatest respect for Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.”

Stav said that he heard of Ovadia’s condemnation through his associates, adding that the two have never met. „Over the past few months I have expressed my wish to meet with him, but Rabbi Ovadia has not been receptive to the idea. I asked that Rabbi Ovadia look over my book as well, and I might have even altered things, but they would not hear of it either.”

Still, even after the verbal censure and the physical attack, Stav told Israel Hayom he believes he could work with the rabbi’s associates, who dominate the kashrut licensing system for eateries in Israel.

„I will work with anyone willing to work with me. Anyone who does not want to cooperate will be denied kashrut [certification]. The laws of the State of Israel must be upheld,” he said.

„I’m convinced that after the rabbi and I meet in the future he will retract his statement… The greater people are, the more inclined they are to admit when they are wrong.”

Commenting on the various political deals associated with the race for the position of the chief rabbi, Stav said: „People fail to understand the horrible damage that we are witnessing, the loss of faith [in the institution of the chief rabbi]. The damage done over the past six months is equal in its scope and severity to that experienced by the national-religious community during the [2005] disengagement [from the Gaza Strip] and the hostility felt following [former Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin’s assassination.”

Meanwhile, the haredi newspaper Yom Leyom, which is affiliated with Shas, ran a scathing article against Stav on Thursday titled, „It’s okay to call him evil.”

The article, which dubs Stav as „the rabbi of cinema” over his 2012 book exploring halachic issues in popular culture, calls Stav „The third party in [Finance Minister Yair] Lapid and [Education Minister Shay] Piron’s horrible strategy to uproot Judaism.”

„Stav carries an equal part in the cruel war waged to destroy us and he does not hide it,” the article said.