Jerusalem – On Tuesday evening, Shas chairman Arye Deri has submitted his letter of resignation to the Knesset to Speaker Yuli Edelstein.
Deri’s latest move comes in the wake of a video’s release showing late Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef speaking disparagingly about Deri.
Deri will meet with the party’s rabbis after they rejected his resignation.
The elderly rabbis walked from where they met at the home of the late Yosef to Deri’s house in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood Monday in an effort to persuade him to stay.
He was not at home but told the rabbis on the phone that he would meet with them Tuesday. In the meantime, Shas officials said Deri’s resignation has been temporarily postponed.
“The pain in my heart is even deeper than the day when [Yosef] died,” Deri wrote in the letter. “My heart is torn in light of the terrible blasphemy, contempt of the Torah and insult of our honorable teacher [Yosef]. So I decided to appear in front of the virtue of your Torah and give back the job to which you have appointed me. My rabbis, don’t make this harder on me. Understand me. I can no longer live with the feeling that because of me there are disputes and fighting.”
Deri told confidants that he insists on resigning and would not give in to the rabbis’ request for him to reconsider.
Deri recommended in the letter that Shas be led by former minister Ariel Attias and the party’s rabbis.