Israeli Jewish fundamentalist leader says Conservative Jews don't practice real Judaism, reason soldiers are killed

Ha'aretz - "Shas leader: Conservative Jews don't practice real Judaism"

In decree published last week, Rabbi Yosef said that those who attend conservative religious schools 'do not follow Jewish religious law.'

Those who study in religious schools affiliated with Conservative Judaism do not practice Judaism, Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has declared in a recent decree.

Such students "do not follow Jewish religious law", Yosef wrote, adding that most of them "do not believe in a God-given Torah."

The Shas spirtual leader concluded that Conservative schools could not as such ordain rabbis, adding further that the "Torah must not be instructed" by students of that stream of Judaism.

Izhar Hess, director of the Conservative movement in Israel, denounced Yosef's ruling as showing the Shas leader's "two-faces."

Hess also invited Yosef "to experience one Shabbat in the Conservative community what love of Israel really is."

Yosef has in the past drawn criticism over his comments regarding teachers in the secular school system, whom he once dubbed "asses." He has also come under fire for claiming that Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed over their lack of religious observance.

"Is it any wonder if, heaven forbid, soldiers are killed in a war?" Rabbi Yosef said during a weekly night sermon, adding that "they don't observe the Sabbath, they don't observe [the laws of] the Torah, they don't pray, they don't put on phylacteries every day."

"Is it any wonder that they're killed? It's no wonder. May the Almighty have mercy on them and bring them back to religion," Rabbi Yosef had said.