The Theopolitics of Ovadia Yosef

Haredim are often distinguished by their conservative lifestyle, dress, resistance to modern secular culture, and rejection of Zionist ideology. While Religious Zionist theology views the State as a vehicle for Jewish revival and messianic redemption, Haredism oscillates between a total rejection of modern Israel—seeing it as merely another "exile"—and a pragmatic acceptance of it. This talk will explore the theological framework of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the architect of “Sephardi” Haredism and spiritual leader of the SHAS political party. Since he did not write systematic theological treatises, the talk will focus on his sermons, from which Dr. Netta Schramm will reconstruct his theological interpretation of the political situation in late-twentieth-century Israel.