The Shas party reacted strongly to MK Elazar Stern's (Yesh Atid) criticism Wednesday afternoon of Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef.
MK Stern protested the decision of Rabbi Yosef to convene the Supreme Rabbinical Court to discuss the annulment of the divorce a woman whose husband is in a vegetative state received.
The divorce had been granted by the Tzfat Rabbinical Court, headed by Rabbi Uriel Lavi, who wrote in a 93 page responsa how the court can give a woman a 'get,' or halachic divorce, in place of her husband using a mechanism called a "get zikui," which is a divorce given on behalf of the husband when he would have desired to give one but cannot.
"The Chief Rabbi is not a judge to make judgments freeing agunot (women who are unable to remarry because they have not been given a divorce.) I am furious that the Chief Rabbi rejected the freeing of this aguna. Rabbi Ovadia (Rabbi Yossef's father) is turning over in his grave at this abuse of women.
The Shas party released a statement calling Stern's comments "rude and insolent!"
"Take your shoes off your feet while your filthy mouth foams against the Chief Rabbi! What do you understand about halacha and its rulings? You are light years away from true halacha. We strongly protest these serious statements which were heard in the Knesset and call on all who honor the rabbis of Israel to add their voices to this protest."