Rav Pinto on Assignment in Morocco

This Motzei Shabbes, in a ceremony where representaties of the King and local muslim leaders took part, Rav Yoshiyahu Pinto was confirmed as the kashrut inspector and chief rabbinical judge in Morocco. 

Counted in 2012 by Forbes among the wealthiest rabbis, Pinto spent one year in prison for attempting to bribe a high-ranking police officer. His list of problems was much larger and complex, and included embezzlement. A Kabbalist, Rav Yoshiyahu Pinto is the grandson of Rabbi Yisrael Abuhatzeira - or Baba Sali - but he studied extensiely in Litvishe and even Satmer yeshivas. At the age of 37, he founded a yeshiva in Ashdod, very popular among Jews of North African and Iraqi descent, including people who returned to religion. 

Among his followers - and also sponsors of his extended network of institutions under the umbrella of Shuva Israel - there are many non-religious wealthy businessmen, like Nochi Dankner, Ilan Ben-Dov, Jacky Ben Zaken or even Yossi Harari main job: mob boss. Harari even accompanied Rav Pinto during his annual pilgrimage to Silistra, in Bulgaria, to the tomb of Rav Eliezer Papo. Born in Sarajevo in the 19th century, Rav Papo - also known as Pele Yoetz, after the name of his main book on musar ethics - encouraged in his writings to consider that money is coming rather from Gd and earning a livelihood should not be a topic of preoccupation for the believers. Apparently, Rav Pinto had a more bold, modernist reading of his writings. Among his services count the offer of financial advices with a pinch of Kabbala, and during his stay in USA in 2008, he tried his hand advicing - not for free and through translator, as he does not speak any English - the basketball player LeBron James.

There are even more stories about Rav Pinto's experiences and achievements, that will be maybe for another time. The question is, how does it help Moroccan Jews - around 2,500 - his nomination? Among the Jews living there, there are also a couple of Israelis from the category of Yossi Harari. As between Morocco and Israel there is no extradition treaty, some of them are living in Morocco without the fear of being taken back to their country of origin prisons. Among them, a couple of years ago, it was another 'famous' Rabbi: Rav Eliezer Berland and his followers set tent here for a while, while trying to escape serious criminal allegations, especially of sexual nature.  

Reading about Safed

Image via Wikipedia//The citadel of Safed

One day before Shabbat, on a very busy day, I opened and couldn't stop finishing this book about the city of Safed. Lots of interesting cultural and historical facts, written in a simple and modest way, with many explanatory pictures. I've been several times there, as well as in Meron, but now I wish I can go again and think more about what I've found out.

A symbolical competitor to Jerusalem, Safed is mentioned in Zohar as the place where the dead will arise and assemble at the time of the resurrection. One of the most populated cities at the end of the 16th century, it played continously an important role in the process of Torah dissemination.

Victim of earthquakes, pandemics or Arab riots, the city of Safed was a city of refuge for various Sephardim groups and since the 18th century, of Hasidim escaping the Europe of pogroms, but also for great names of Judaism, as Baba Sali, R' Shlomo Eliezer Elfandan, R'Chaim of Czernovitz.

The same force of spiritual attraction was represented by Meron, another important point on the map of Zohar scholars. Two are the moment considered appropriate to visit Meron if a lover of Zohar: ten days before Shavuos and ten days before Rosh HaShanah.

An interesting journey in a very inspiring place, although only mental for the moment.