Shas’s spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said that his appointment of MK Aryeh Deri as the party’s new chairman is tantamount to “returning of a deposit to its lawful owner,” and was not intended as a move to humiliate MK Eli Yishai.

Yishai served as party boss during Deri’s three years in prison for accepting $155 thousand in bribes. In late 2012, Rav Ovadia created a triumvirat at the head of the party, with Yishai, Deri and Housing Minister Ariel Atias. Late last week, a Shas spokesman announced that Deri has been returned to his original, pre-prison post.

During his weekly Saturday night class, Rav Ovadia remarked that after Deri had been sentenced to prison, he, Rav Ovadia, promised to keep for him the party chairmanship as a deposit, until he returned to political life.

Rav Ovadia added: “If you judge us positively [over this decision] so will God judge you positively.”

He also insisted that the new appointments did not reflect badly on Eli Yishai, whom he said had served him loyally.

Rav Ovadia’s decision has been slammed by many, including Rabbi Amnon Bezek, a dean at Har Etzion Yeshiva, who noted that “this Haredi-Orthodox party, is doing what no other political party in the country would have dared to do: give the leadership post to a man convicted of serious bribery crimes, in place of a man who had served the party faithfully for years and with flawless morales. This decision is blasphemous, and also conveys the message that money and bribery offenses are not serious enough in Jewish law to disqualify a person from serving in such an important public position.”

During the most recent elections, serving as one of Shas’s three leaders but actually running the party’s campaign, Aryeh Deri “released the racial demon out of the bottle,” as the Israeli saying goes. He slammed Liberman’s party directly, alluding that it was pushing easy conversion for Russians of a dubious Jewish association. He also refused a call for an alliance with Naftali Bennett’s Habayit Hayehudi, saying it was a known thing that Prime Minister Netanyahu was not going to let Bennet et al into his coalition government.

Later, when the Bennett-Lapid axis led to a government without Haredim, and Shas found itself in the opposition, Deri became a furious left-winger, declaring he had more in common with the Arabs of the country than with the middle class-based coalition.

Deri has been held responsible for Shas’s inability to rise beyond the 11 seats it had held in the 18th Knesset, but that, apparently, is not much of a concern for Rav Ovadia.

What should be a concern is the fact that Deri was a supporter of the Oslo plan, as well as of returning large chunks of Eretz Israel to the Arabs. It is not improbable that Netanyahu could opt to replace the Lapid-Bennet axis with a Labor-Deri axis which, along with the 7 Torah Judaism votes could give him a majority should his two youthful partners balk at any of his proposed policies.

Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has given his blessing for the charismatic Aryeh Deri to return to his former position as head of the Shas political party at the expense of Knesset Member Eli Yishai.

Since the return of Deri to the Knesset after the end of his seven-year banishment as a  result of a bribery conviction for which he was jailed, Yishai has headed the party in the Knesset. After this year’s elections, he shared the leadership with MKs Deri and Ariel Atias, who probably will head the party’s caucus in the Knesset.

After his attack on the Jewish Home, which he dubbed “Goyish Home,” Shas’s spiritual leader is going after Yesh Atid chairman Yair Lapid. In his Saturday night’s weekly sermon, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef lashed at the evil man Lapid.

In his weekly sermon, Rav Ovadia told the story of “a king who had one beloved minister he loved very much. He was a regular visitor at the king’s chamber, they conversed about security and the coalition and the opposition, the spoke about everything, and the minister would give him advice: ‘Don’t go with Lapid, he’s a scoundrel, he is, hates the yeshivas.’ He would advise him, give him advice.”

Rav Ovadia’s Sermon is part of Shas’s continued attempts to separate the Jewish Home party from Yair Lapid’s party. As you may recall, last Thursday Shas representatives apologized for their attack against Naftali Bennett and his “Goyish Home.” Shas is looking for ways to separate Bennett from Lapid.

The natural path to a Likud-led coalition that would deal effectively with many painful and pressing issues: severe budget cuts, equal burden legislation, and some deal with the Palestinians, goes through a pact with Yesh Atid and Jewish Home. The two blocks comprise 62 seats, and both Lapid and Bennett appear amenable to Netanyahu’s positions on all three topics.

In fact, if Shas is invited to join the coalition, it is sure to torpedo at least two out of three initiatives: budget cuts and equal burden, which would involve sending their own constituency to military service.

Except Netanyahu is not excited about achieving great success in partnership with Lapid or Bennett, either one of whom can overshadow him come next elections. He much prefers a do nothing government, with his two true rivals withering either in minor government posts or outside the coalition altogether.

In that sense, Rav Ovadia is not altogether wrong in his Saturday night tale about the loyal Shas adviser and King Bibi.

The only course open at the moment for Bennett and Lapid is to stick together and stick to their guns in talks with Netanyahu (Jewish Home is scheduled to meet with the Likud-Beitenu team this week).

An estimated 85,000 people are expected to arrive at the Kotel plaza on Monday night for the final recitation of the Selichot prayers prior to Yom Kippur, the holiday of atonement.

The central service began at 11:30 PM, led by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, and Chief Rabbis Shlomo Amar and Yonah Metzger, as well as Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, Rabbi of the Kotel and Holy Places.

Witnesses said the sounds of the prayer leaders and the giant crowd could be heard clearly on the Mount of Olives.

The Israel Prison Service (IPS) has publicized the list of prisoners scheduled to be released in the second stage of the Gilad Shalit deal to its website on Wednesday.

Citizens have 48 hours to file motions. The list includes the names of 550 terrorists, including terrorist Salah Hamouri, who was arrested in 2005 for plotting to assassinate Shas party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.