Last week (October 7, 2013) one of the greatest Torah scholars and authorities in Jewish Law passed way. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef was ninety three years old and was acknowledged throughout the Jewish world as one of the most brilliant and incisive scholars that the Jewish world has seen for several generations. While it is true that the passing of such a scholar is heart-breaking for the Orthodox world, nevertheless, it is not something that one would imagine would galvanize the non-Orthodox sectors in Israel. However, there were an unprecedented eight hundred thousand people who came to offer their last respects to the venerated and venerable Sage. Not just Orthodox Jews – but Jews from all walks of life. Eight hundred thousand people attending a funeral would be a staggering enough number in America, which has a population of three hundred million, but the State of Israel has a Jewish population of only six million. That means that almost one sixth of the entire country came to the funeral!
Why? What was it about the passing of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef that mesmerized the entire country? The media spoke about nothing else. The whole country was preoccupied with the funeral arrangements. The police said that there has never been anything like it before in the annals of Israel’s history. What was the secret of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s appeal that even staunchly non-Orthodox citizens were moved to tears? That Shimon Peres, the secular President of the State of Israel, became choked up when trying to talk about his relationship with Rabbi Ovadia Yosef? That the Prime Minster and many ministers and past minsters participated in the funeral? I think that the answer lies with my daughters’ experiences with him and his family.
I have two daughters who are very friendly with some of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s granddaughters. They said that whenever they went around to their house (which Rabbi Ovadia Yosef lived in) and he was there, he would greet them with a warm smile and a blessing. One of my daughters used to go there to study for school tests with his granddaughter and he used to bless them that they succeed! Imagine the greatest Rabbi of the generation treating his granddaughters’ friends as if they the center of his life at that moment! That was the “secret” of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. He was the most brilliant of men – he was intimately familiar with the over ten thousand scholarly works in his library and yet he had time for every single person! He ruled on the most complex and difficult situations – cases that were truly life-and-death. He was able to give definitive rulings on every discipline in Judaism as if he had just studied the subject in depth, and yet he was there for every single Jew who needed him. He would dispense blessings with the most incredible heart-felt warmth, and each person who received one left his presence feeling as if they had been the center of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef’s attention. His concern and love for each and every person is what endeared him to everyone. Just a few moments in his presence and it was impossible not to want to love him in return. That is why almost one million people came to say a final farewell to this giant of a man whose scholarship was matched by the size of his heart.
The Jewish world has lost a precious and priceless personality but it is a loss that hundreds of thousands of individuals will feel as well – as keenly as can be. Included in that number are my two daughters.
