Yosef Stresses Need for More Synagogues in the Negev

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, Israel’s Chief Sephardic Rabbi, stressed today that when Israeli settlements in the Sinai are re-established in the Negev in line with the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty there will be a need for additional synagogues and other religious institutions in the Negev. He said the need was not only to serve the some 5000 settlers leaving the Sinai but also the expected growth in the Negev population because of the government’s policy to increase the number of people in that area.

Yosef, who returns to Israel tonight, told a press conference that he has been stressing the need for synagogues and institutions in meetings he has had since arriving in the United States last Thursday. He noted that he was not on an official fund-raising campaign but was alerting American Jews to the need.

The rabbi said that his reaction to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty is positive as is that of the majority at the Israeli people. He noted that Egyptian President Anwar Sadat will allow a rabbi from Israel to go to Egypt to serve the remaining Jewish community. The rabbi will not go until after May 26 when El Arish is returned to Egypt and the borders between Egypt and Israel are officially opened.

Yosef said one of the tasks for the rabbi will be to see if he can find the vast library that was at one time maintained by the Chief Rabbi of Egypt and try to bring it to Israel where it can be used by scholars. Yosef said he knew of the library because he served as Assistant Chief Rabbi of Egypt 30 years age.

SPIRITUAL REVIVAL IN ISRAEL

The rabbi was also asked to comment on the government of Premier Menachem Begin which will be celebrating its second anniversary soon. He said the “spiritual revival” in Israeli is in part, but not only, due to having a Prime Minister who is observant. He said when the Premier puts on a skull cap at the White House and recites from the Psalms, eats only kosher food in the U.S. and observes the Sabbath it can only have a good influence on the Jewish people.

Yosef noted that he visited Iranian children in Baltimore yesterday and told them not to “despair” because they would eventually be reunited with their parents still in Iran. He also stressed that the situation has not improved for the Jews of Syria.

The rabbi said that during his many visits to the U.S., especially to the Sephardic communities in Brooklyn and Deal, N. J., he has had “great pleasure” at seeing the strengthening of religion among Sephardic Jews in the U.S.