Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef’s Son: Segregated Buses Idiotic, No Religious Justification
Jerusalem - In an explosive radio interview today on Radio Kol Bramah, the son of Israel’s Chief Rabbi, had harsh words for those who insists that men and women must be separated on buses.
Rabbi Avraham Yosef, Rov of Holon, and the son of Rav Ovadia Yosef, did not mince words when radio host Moti Lavi recounted the story of a Chareidi man who was sitting in the front seat of a bus, in an area designated for the handicapped, and angrily rebuked a blind woman who sat down next to him, telling her she needed to move to the back of the bus, the area where women are seated on Mehadrin bus lines.
“This is idiocy,” said R’ Yosef. “This is chutzpah, a lack of understanding. The ways of the Torah are pleasant and peaceful. This is idiocy. This does not stem from yiras shomayim [fear of G-D]. Pirkei Avos [Ethics of the Fathers] criticizes one who tries to overdo his yiras shomayim and we know what happened to Shaul Hamelech [King Saul] when he added additional words onto the directives of Shmuel Hanavi [the Prophet Samuel].
There is no prohibition on sitting next to a strange woman. Looking at her? Yes. Smelling her perfume? Yes. But sitting next to her? Take off your glasses, don’t look.”
