"This is not an affront to Shas – it's an affront to Maran"

This morning after the release of the dramatic recording the words of Hagaon R' Ovadia Yosef zt"l about Shas chairman Aryeh Deri in 2008, Yehuda Avidan, a senior activist of the movement for many years, responds to the difficult words.

"Shame. Red lines were crossed - to get legitimacy they crossed every possible line. These are not things we are used to in the Torah world. This is not an affront to Shas, but to the legacy of Maran – it is an attempt to place the Rav time in this light and time in a different light, once he says that and then he says otherwise.

"We forget that even in Halacha, the Rav knew to change his mind, and certainly in leadership - a person who can not change his mind is not appropriate. And certainly Maran knew to change his mind on issues of leadership, and to come and try to show the Rav in this way with all kinds of words spoken, this is something very unfortunate and painful."

Avidan added: "I think that our job today is to look for a way to restore the faith of millions of people who believed in Maran, and this is our most important aim."

• Who do you think is behind the dissemination of the recording to the media?

"The public is intelligent enough to understand what interests are behind it, I will not go into slander and defamation, but the public is mature enough. I do not believe the sons of Harav Ovadia or Aryeh Deri would have made sure to publicize something like that, even if for one reason – that the honor of the Ravi is our concern".

• Will the recording which was released yesterday harm the Shas movement?

Avidan: "Maran sits in the heaven and cries, and we sit here and will take care to restore his dignity and his will that will be".

• How will Shas cope in front of such recordings?

"If there is anything that hurts more than anything in this story, is that people that do not have a drop of yirat shamayim do not understand the significance of the harm to emunat chachamim, and what they can cause. Even a father who is angry at his children, there are times that he says to his children painful things, and after that he understands things differently, and respects them and hugs them.

"The Rav could say a lot of things, and then hug and pet, what was said by the Rav in the past two years and the last year before he died, were very clear about who will be our leader, and how the Council of Torah Sages would look."

Avidan goes on to say: "Red lines were crossed which were not only in Shas, but in the entire haredi Jewry. Today this is no longer a matter of Shas and politics, but of every Ben Torah - everyone has to stand up and cry out and condemn these things. The millions who followed his deathbed, and the millions who enjoy his books, that's what our aim is."

• Did you have contact with the family since the recording was released?

"Of course, and the pain is great. You will still hear an answer from the family and Shas, G-d forbid, not by recordings, but an appropriate response on this issue."

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!