Two days after his comments ignited a public firestorm, the office of Rishon LeZion Rabbi David Yosef issued a clarification Thursday walking back remarks that were widely understood as a rebuke of women who choose to immerse in the mikveh without a balanit, a ritual bath attendant.
"The partial quotes attributed to the Chief Rabbi distorted the truth," the official statement read. "There was never any intention, God forbid, to hurt the dear community of women. On the contrary, his entire address at that event dealt with the obligation to receive women warmly, with love and closeness."
The clarification came after Rabbi Yosef's original remarks drew sharp criticism from women's advocacy groups and religious feminists who said his language had been harsh and alienating.
According to the rabbi's office, the sharp tone was directed exclusively at a small minority of women who have sought to challenge established halachic practice through the Israeli court system, specifically by petitioning the High Court of Justice to override rabbinic authority on matters of Jewish law. "When the Chief Rabbi warned in strong terms against the demand of a minority of women to immerse without a balanit, which contravenes halacha and rabbinic enactment, he repeatedly emphasized that this must be explained to them gently," the statement said. "Nevertheless, these things must be stated clearly and decisively."
The office drew a firm distinction between that minority, whom it described as "women who insist defiantly on uprooting the Torah" while relying on High Court rulings, and the broader population of observant women who immerse regularly as part of family purity observance. For the latter group, the statement said, nothing but respect and warmth is appropriate.
The clarification closed with what the rabbi's office framed as the guiding principle: "One must certainly act with honor and respect toward every person, and all the more so toward dear women who come to fulfill a mitzvah. Only through gentle ways and a welcoming face should the parameters of halacha be explained."
The episode reflects a broader and intensifying tension in Israel between rabbinic authorities and the High Court over who holds ultimate jurisdiction on matters of religious law, a fault line that has surfaced repeatedly in recent years across issues ranging from conversion to Shabbat observance.
