For the first time since the 'Rabbi and the Commander' affair exploded, tonight (Friday night) Rabbi Yosiah Pinto, head of the 'Shuva Yisrael' institutions, addressed the affair for the first time in his own voice, in a lesson he gave to his followers at the 'Shuva Yisrael' yeshiva in Ashdod - the affair.
The rabbi, who testified for long hours this week at the police investigation department against retired police chief Menashe Arbiv, told the Hasidim, who welcomed him with singing and dancing, that he was happy to come to today's class. "We haven't been here for a long time. After twenty years of weekly classes, I'm happy to return here, to a place that is all about serving God and loving God, and with God's help we will be here every Thursday," he added, adding: "Every person goes through trials in their lives, but they have to continue to believe. We don't always see God's goodness, but even when we don't, we have to believe that everything is for the best.".
He continued: "We will not involve the entire community in the war. These are my private matters. I cry with you in pain and rejoice in your joy, but these are private matters.".
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Throughout the evening, Rabbi Pinto displayed a fine sense of humor and joked a lot. During the question-and-answer session, he said to one of the Hasidim: "Rabbi Nissim, do you want to know how to pass a polygraph test well? They say the name of Abraham's mother: 'Amitlai bat Karanbo.'".
• Rabbi Pinto finished testifying • Going abroad after depositing millions
The rabbi emphasized: "We have forgiven everyone. We are all Jews. They have done us all the evil in the world. I don't know if there is a person in this generation who has been harmed as much as they have done to us. We have not harmed anyone. Anyone who thinks that way is wrong. We have not harmed anyone, despite everything they say. We have not harmed anyone.".
""On that Black Thursday, my wife and I sat and cried. We said, 'We forgive and pardon everyone for everything. They did us great harm. What good would it do if we explained to everyone? It wouldn't help. There are souls for everyone. There are children for everyone. We don't want to hurt anyone, God forbid. The community will move on. We will be in love and joy. We didn't harm anyone, God forbid. We just brought forward what should have been later.".
""We know what we are doing, even if we don't see or understand what is happening now," the rabbi said in the sermon. "This is how the Holy One, blessed be He, wants it, so this is how it happens. We ask that no one hurt, offend, or grieve anyone, that is our job. We will continue to study Torah, because that is the main thing in the world.".
""Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was in a cave for 13 years and suffered a lot physically, but spiritually it was the opposite, he only ascended and became more exalted. There are three reasons why suffering comes to man - either it is an atonement for sins, or it is a correction for previous incarnations, or it comes to prepare him for the great light that will shine upon him. There is always darkness before the light.".
""We don't have a penny," said the rabbi. "We give everything we have, we lend money to those in need. We have nothing, not even a worn-out penny. In Israel they said we have 175 million NIS, in America they said 175 million dollars. When Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai hid from the kingdom because Yehuda ben Grim had informed on him to the kingdom, he turned his eyes on him and made him a wave of bones. Because he grieved the Holy One, blessed be He, who revealed the source who learned Torah, who makes the Holy One happy. Even if we don't see and don't understand why - the Holy One, blessed be He, punishes those who flog the source who learns Torah, who makes the Holy One happy.
""The punishment they inflicted with a wave of bones is a punishment that eases the deceased, whose soul did not suffer from worms that came to eat the flesh, because Rabbi Shimon - when he was in grief - learned more Torah, and Rabbi Shimon reminded Yehuda ben Gerim that thanks to him he learned more Torah.
""But he died because the Holy One, blessed be He, punished him for exiled Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.".
""All the suffering we've gone through here in Israel," the rabbi continued, "is 10% of what we went through in America... What you see here is all null and void. Nothing has changed... Two years and everything is just running through people's heads... But what? Nothing has changed. We hear from people, we ask people to 'tell us what they say,' and we no longer recognize that it's us. There are millions and there's everything, we don't know if it's us or not us. There is a developed imagination in the Middle East, thank God.
""They said about Rabbi Nachman of Breslov that he committed every offense in the Torah, about us they only said that we gave a bribe. That is a privilege. They don't say that we took, we only give. The Holy One, blessed be He, did us a favor that they accuse us of giving. There was a problem in America, we came in and lowered the standard of justice - and the standard of justice affected the bad and the good, so we were hurt too. We don't regret it. Maybe it's not good to give to the police, but to good people. There are about 30,000 police officers in the police force, all of them righteous. It is true that there are rotten apples in every crate, but in general they are all good souls.".
The class ended with a powerful "Bar Yochai" chant, followed by songs and dances.
After the class, Rabbi Pinto took off abroad.
