Dr. Yoel Rafel, a veteran of 'Kol Yisrael', who produced Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's program from the late 1970s, told Roi Katz on the 'Journalist's Certificate' program on Knesset Channel - how the rabbi knew the secrets of broadcasting, without learning them.
""Rabbi Ovadia insisted on not seeing the questions. He told me categorically, you choose the questions, you ask and mark them. We had to record half an hour every week. When we got close to the end, I would mark the time - and he would cut the answer exactly according to the mark," Rafel recalled.
Katz wondered if the Gra'ar zt"l did this because he was afraid that his words would be edited - and Rafel replied: "The principle was that everything he said would go in - we committed not to edit it.".
The program was recorded at the Yosef family home, but the rabbi did not hold a book while answering listeners' questions. "Everything took place at the family dinner table and he did not receive the questions in advance. He said - if I start reading the question first - I will start going through the sources, that way I will speak from memory what I remember. He answered everything from memory - he did not have any book.".
The full program will be broadcast on Tuesday.
