Shulchan Yosef: The Unrecognized Rulings of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef

If you thought you knew all the rulings of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zt"l, think again: A new book recently released, titled 'Shulchan Yosef', compiles around a thousand halachic rulings by the rabbi zt"l that did not appear in his books.

The idea for this project and its editing was led by Rabbi Rafael Avraham: "The idea came to me when I met a former student from the Kollel Yechaveh Da'at of Rabbi David Yosef, Rabbi Elchanan Muskat, who now serves as a rabbi of a community in Buenos Aires," says Rabbi Avraham. "Over the years he studied in the Kollel, he documented various responses of the rabbi that he encountered in different pamphlets and collections of laws. Since these were rulings not included in the rabbi's books, he felt the need to write them down. There were about a hundred such rulings. I was impressed by the idea and asked permission to borrow the notebook for use in our Beit Hora'ah in the Ramat neighborhood. But it soon occurred to me that there must be more rulings unknown to the wider public."

The appearance of the book 'Shulchan Yosef'

The meeting with Rabbi Muskat and his notebook happened about a year before Maran's passing. "We began to search through many libraries, where we found, for example, collections of laws published when he served as the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv and the Rishon LeTzion. In the Tel Aviv City Archive, we found many letters about eruvin. In other places, we found writings on interest – topics he did not frequently address in his books. We also found a transcript of a speech he delivered in the Knesset in 1996, where he discussed conversion, laying out his entire perspective on issues related to conversion and mentioned about thirty laws not covered in his books. Even then, he stated that not every rabbi should be able to convert, as local rabbis face pressure from their surroundings, and conversion power should lie only with judges."

One of the materials Rabbi Avraham was particularly eager to obtain was the 'Halacha Corner' that Rabbi Ovadia zt"l published for years in the 'Yom Hashishi' newspaper. Unfortunately, he was unable to find any of the newspaper's issues in libraries. "They didn’t keep them. Eventually, we reached the rabbi's column with special assistance from above: the reverse side of the page where the rabbi's corner appeared featured a column by Dr. Yitzchak Alfasi. A fan of Dr. Alfasi preserved newspaper clippings with that corner – which inadvertently preserved the rabbi's corner as well... We reached him, photographed the material, and found many laws the rabbi hadn't mentioned in his writings."

Most of the rulings in the book originate, as mentioned, from various printed materials that were forgotten. However, about 20 percent come from oral responses the rabbi gave to his students, which those students later published in various journals and pamphlets.

Were there rulings that surprised you?

"We found interesting material about his stance on the evacuation of settlements. During the evacuation of Yamit, for instance, he expressed his opposition due to fear of danger. There is a long responsum from 1974 where he discusses the relinquishment of territories out of fear of pikuach nefesh (saving lives) and states that military and state leaders have the authority to decide on the matter, similar to how one would listen to a Gentile doctor in permitting a patient to eat on Yom Kippur. Conversely, when he did not trust the state leaders, like during the evacuation of Gush Katif, he expressed a different view.

"There is the matter of Anisakis worms in fish which people always argued about whether the rabbi permitted or forbade them. Even Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef couldn't tell me. Eventually, I found a letter he sent to Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Reif where he wrote: ‘If it is clear that these worms come from outside the fish’s body, then it is forbidden,’ meaning he prohibited them with a caveat: in practice, it is not clear that the worms indeed come from outside.

"Regarding the sabbatical year, there is a dispute among the various kosher authorities about what constitutes the northern and southern Arava, and here Rabbi Reif told me that Rabbi Ovadia sat with him, looking over the map, and delineated the boundaries, which is also information that has yet to be published."

A halachic discussion published by Maran 50 years ago in the collection 'HaOhel'

Rabbi Avraham appointed three scholars well-versed in Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's writings to sort through the vast material accumulated, select the novel findings, and prepare them for printing. A lot of effort was also invested in facilitating research: out of the book's 450 pages, 50 pages of indexes created by a specialized expert aid in locating material. The book also includes a comprehensive bibliography of all sources utilized by the editors.

"We received hundreds of responses," Rabbi Avraham says. "Just today, six different people called me regarding a number of rulings in the book. The public is showing interest, and the book is selling well in Israel – and abroad. Recently, the head of a Kollel for training rabbis in Melbourne called me, looking for something to gift his scholars upon their graduation. He told me he chose 'Shulchan Yosef' because it expands Rabbi Ovadia's books. 'This way, I know I'm sending them off properly,' he explained."