A Muslim Questions: "Another Verbal Bomb from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef"

Jpost reported
http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?ID=191782&R=R1&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

that Rabbi Ovadia Yoesef, former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel and spiritual leader of the Shas party, declared that

“Goyim were born only to serve us. Without that, they have no place in the world – only to serve the People of Israel,” (context: he said this in his weekly Saturday night sermon on the laws regarding the actions non-Jews are permitted to perform on Shabbat).

and

“In Israel, death has no dominion over them... With gentiles, it will be like any person – they need to die, but [God] will give them longevity. Why? Imagine that one’s donkey would die, they’d lose their money.

and

This is his servant... That’s why he gets a long life, to work well for this Jew,” Yosef said.

and

“Why are gentiles needed? They will work, they will plow, they will reap. We will sit like an effendi and eat."

My Muslim friend emailed me with the news and asked:

"Did he really say this? If so, this schmuck really isn't helping Israel's cause. I know that there are a lot of websites out there that love to cherry pick verses from the Talmud and Torah in order to show how "bad" the Jews are, same way that propagandists do to Islam, but from your perspective, I have to ask. Is there any kind of scriptural justification or reasoning for what this guy is saying?"

My response:
(note: I edited my response for source citing, and clarification)

Another verbal bomb from Rabbi Yosef.

Yes there are such commentaries on Isaiah ("And the strangers shall stand and feed your flocks" Isaiah 61:5) for example, and more recent Rabbinic leaders like Rabbi Kook, are quoted as making similar statements. But those exegesis and statements can only be understood in context of the commentators understanding of divine purpose, i.e. the Jews were to spread the belief in G-d (not Judaism, but G-d) , and the gentiles were to help them do it. The commentators saw the mission of the gentile like our society sees support for higher education. Indeed, the supporters are often seen as MORE important than the average academic (an example but there is much more nuance). The commentators intended a meaningful exposition of divine wisdom. From this article it seems the Rabbi was gratuitously insulting and intentionally speaking out of context.

I believe that a proper understanding of the concept of the chosen people, offers a concrete scenario whereas the original commentators perspective can be understood. (My blog post http://factoru.blogspot.com/2010/03/chosen-people-what-does-it-mean.html, as well as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jews_as_a_chosen_people discusses this in depth). In short we are all servants/messengers of G-d. The Rabbi created a hierarchy, but in the eyes of G-d there are not, cannot be, hierarchies. Our greatest Rabbis said, and we repeat it on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur that we are as dust in front of you (G-d), this theme is repeated in Ethics of Our Fathers" (Pirkei Avot) and elsewhere. Indeed the finite (one or one million) is equally insignificant when measured against the infinite.

I would add that Rabbi Yosef has never been seen by the ChaBaD community or most Orthodox-American (never mind the rest of the Jewish-secular Diaspora) Jews as acting to benefit Israel. He supported Oslo, against clear Rabbinic (Maimonides for example, he was opposed by many leading Rabbis, including my Grandfather, Abraham B. Hecht) injunctions that were of utmost relevance. Recently he cursed the Arabs, and retracted...There is no source in Judaism for such a curse.
He cannot speak for the Jewish community not because he is too extreme, but because he repeatedly abrogates Jewish Rabbinic principles.

Still he has a tremendous following amongst Israeli ultra-orthodox Sephardim and he is a true Torah scholar, beyond most anyone I know.