At this very moment, as I write these lines with a trembling hand and fearful heart, doctors are fighting for the life of one of the greatest rabbis of his generation, our teacher Rabbi Haim Ovadia Yosef, son of Georgia.
I feel and believe that the entire people of Israel share the great concern for the rabbi's life. Even those who do not number among his followers share a great admiration for him and his life's work, to compile a single version of the Jewish law for the entire nation of Israel, based on the rulings of Shulhan Aruch author Rabbi Yosef Karo.
Our rabbi is in serious and grave condition, but our sages already instructed us in the Talmud, "Even if a sharp sword rests upon a man's neck he should not desist from prayer" (Brachot 10a). And who was more faithful than David, who saw an angel holding an outstretched sword and did not desist from prayer, as described at the end of the book of Samuel-
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's phenomenal person instills energy and hope in us even in these difficult hours. Only once in a generation does a leader and teacher arise of the caliber of Rabbi Haim Ovadia Yosef, may he live a long life.
He is a prodigy who wrote his first Torah commentaries at the age of 9, who began teaching Halachah at the age of 17 and who began his rabbinic career at the age of 20, rising to the stature of one of the greatest rabbis of his generation and a teacher of Halachah to the entire nation.
A sharp sword rests on our necks. But we do not wish to and cannot desist from prayer and hope. In these difficult hours we need the greatest teacher of our generation, his counsel and advice, his wisdom and leadership. We are commanded to continue to pray for his healing and recovery. Amen, may God will it to be so.
טעינו? נתקן! אם מצאתם טעות בכתבה, נשמח שתשתפו אותנו