Former Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, who is also the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, called a fellow rabbi and bereaved father of a slain soldier a heretic for advocating conscription for yeshiva students.
In a recording first published by Kol Chai radio on Sunday, which has drawn condemnation across the political spectrum, Yosef attacked Rabbi Tamir Granot, who serves as the head of the hesder yeshiva Orot Shaul in Tel Aviv — where students combine Torah study and military service.
Granot’s son, Cpt. Amitay Granot, was killed by an anti-tank missile on the Lebanon border in October 2023. Several months later, in March 2024, Granot criticized Yosef for opposing yeshiva students’ enlisting in the military.
In Sunday’s recording, Yosef recalled the controversy and proceeded to criticize Granot.
“Several heads of yeshivot attacked me,” Yosef says. “There was one rabbi — I don’t know if he’s a rabbi — Granot, the head of a hesder yeshiva. The way he spoke against us on television — aren’t you afraid of the humiliation of Torah scholars?”
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Yosef went on to suggest that Granot was committing heresy by saying yeshiva students should be drafted.
“Who is an apikores?” Yosef is heard saying, using the traditional Jewish term for a heretic. “He who says… ‘Everyone go to the army.’”
במקום שינשק את הרגליים לרב גרנות שאיבד את הבן הגיבור שלו למעננו, הרב יוסף בוחר לנבל את הפה.
במקום שיקיים את ההלכה הפשוטה התובעת כבוד לתלמידי חכמים – גם כאלה שיש לו מחלוקת איתם. הוא בוחר פעם נוספת להוכיח ניתוק.
ניתוק- לא רק ממוסר, אמת והכרת הטוב בסיסית, אלא גם מהלכה ותורה… pic.twitter.com/gvFv10u1Z2
— אוהד טל – Ohad Tal (@MKOhadTal) October 26, 2025
He continued, “What do you mean by everyone go to the army? They study Torah. Just as there is an air force, there is the ‘God force’ of those who sit and study Torah and protect the entire people of Israel.”
Yosef, the son of the late renowned sage Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, then suggested that Granot and others who share his views may not be eligible to be counted in a minyan, or prayer quorum.
“I think there are some of them who, if they were to come to join a minyan , we would not include them in the minyan,” Yosef continues. “They fall under the category of apikores… Not all of them, of course.”
It is not immediately clear when Yosef made the remarks published on Kol Chai, but they drew backlash from political allies and opponents alike of Shas, which is a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition.
“This horrible slander from someone who leads one of the central parties in the Israeli government, the same government that sends our children into battle, is one more testimony to the moral abyss we’re in,” former prime minister Naftali Bennett, thought to be one of Netanyahu’s chief rivals in the upcoming election and himself a religious Zionist, posted on X.
הרב תמיר גרנות הוא תלמיד חכם, ראש ישיבה ואב שכול.
בנו אמיתי ז״ל נפל בתחילת המלחמה.
מאות תלמידיו עדיין בחזית.
עם לב יהודי ענק, הרב תמיר עושה הכל הכל כדי לאחד את עם ישראל.
ההשתלחות הנוראה הזו של מי שמוביל את אחת מהמפלגות המרכזיות בממשלת ישראל, אותה ממשלה ששולחת את ילדינו… pic.twitter.com/tb26sBCu7l
— Naftali Bennett נפתלי בנט (@naftalibennett) October 26, 2025
Ohad Tal, a lawmaker for Religious Zionism, a far-right member of the coalition, posted that Yosef displayed a “disconnect not only from morals, truth and basic gratitude, but also from Halacha [Jewish law], and Torah, and the laws of lashon hara [speaking ill of someone] and showing respect to Torah scholars.”
Tal wrote, “Instead of kissing the feet of Rabbi Granot, who lost his heroic son for our sake, Rabbi Yosef is choosing to defile his mouth.”
Yitzhak Wasserlauf, a government minister from the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, did not criticize Yosef directly but praised Granot in a post on X.
“Rabbi Tamir Granot is an exemplar of being a Torah scholar, noble of spirit and a person of values,” he wrote. “His illuminating character is an inspiration to many. I pray that there will be many rabbis and heads of yeshivot in Israel like him — who combine Torah, decency and humility.”
The feud between the two rabbis began in March 2024, when Granot publicly criticized Yosef over his threat that the ultra-Orthodox community would abandon Israel if its members were compelled to serve in the army.
“You need to… go up to Mount Herzl and apologize to my son, a yeshiva student and soldier,” said Granot in an interview with Ynet, referring to the Jerusalem military cemetery.
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