“I was bored during the Bible Study with Benjamin Netanyahu!” These hard-hitting words, out of the mouth of Sephardic Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, of all people, caused great indignation in Israel. This Bible Study at the official Prime Minister’s Residence, which he took part in several years prior, was a complete waste of time, Rabbi Yosef told a group of Orthodox Jewish students. 

As the Chief Rabbi recounted:

“I arrived. All the furniture was new, everything was clean and beautiful. After I finished my address, I wanted to leave, but Netanyahu took hold of my arm firmly. He said to me, ‘No, you may not go, you stay where you are.’ 

“I became frightened. I was forced to stay sitting there for three hours and to listen to all the others. That was boring. What a waste of the Torah. And who was sitting beside me? A bald professor with a Bible in his hand, but without a...