Israel Matzav

Shas 13 - UTJ 6

Haredi parties have garnered nineteen seats in the new Knesset - nearly one sixth of the total. But the imbalance between them is surprising. Shas - whose constituency is principally Sphardic Haredi Jews - got thirteen seats, while United Torah Judaism - which is a combination of Degel HaTorah (Lithuanian Haredi Jews) and Agudath Yisrael (Ashkenazi Hassidic Jews) got only six seats. The latter figure surprised me until I found this article from Monday (the day after my daughter's wedding) that I had missed. While I knew that the Slonoimer Rebbe had called for boycotting the elections, I wasn't aware why. This explains a lot:

A Geocartographic Institute study, quoted in the hareidi publication Mishpacha (Family), states, "Tens of thousands of hareidi Jews will not vote for UTJ this time. Most of them will vote for Shas, and some for NU/NRP or Marzel, and a minority will not vote at all. The main reasons: the fact that the child allowances were cut so drastically [ironically, that happened while UTJ was not in the government - perhaps they expected them to 'rectify' the cuts when UTJ went into the government, but they only took care of getting money for their institutions. CiJ], the abuse of the Torah Sage Rabbi Elyashiv [I'm not quite sure what this refers to. I think there were disputes between Rav Elyashiv and some of the Hassidic Rebbes, but this article seems to attack both halves of the UTJ combination. CiJ] and ignoring of the Council of Torah Sages, and the behavior of the party faction during the Disengagement."

One of the leading rabbis in hareidi-religious circles, the Admor [Rebbe] of Slonim, who is quoted as saying, "One must not vote for United Torah Judaism, which is the same as voting for Kadima."

Much of the wrath appears to be directed at MK Rabbi Yaakov Litzman, who is perceived as having disobeyed the rabbis' orders in votes concerning the Disengagement. Specifically, he was ordered to vote "no" in a critical Disengagement vote in the Finance Committee in November 2004. However, he was curiously absent from the session, explaining that he had an important Postal Authority event to attend at a Dead Sea hotel. Litzman later explained to Radio Kol Chai, "In political matters, one need not consult with the Torah sages" - a position that had not heretofore been heard in his party.

This past Thursday, UTJ MK Avraham Ravitz did not rule out joining a government led by Ehud Olmert and Kadima - despite Olmert's declaration the night before that only parties that accept his plan for further disengagements will be invited to join his government.

Posters have been placed on walls in hareidi neighborhoods stating, "Don't give your vote and be a partner to those who hurt Torah giants, Jewish children, and the Land of Israel. This time, let's vote Shas, or Tet-Bet [NU/NRP], or even Kaf [Marzel], but just not Gimmel [UTJ], until Litzman is removed and the party returns to the control of the Torah Sages." [I don't recall seeing any such signs in my Haredi neighborhood. There were lots of signs calling for unity among UTJ, Shas and NU/NRP. CiJ]

After seeing this article, I am almost surprised that my two eldest children both got phone calls yesterday from UTJ urging them to go and vote (my wife and I had already voted by then). I actually toyed with voting for Marzel, but was not convinced he would make the minimum necessary to get into the Knesset (which he did not).

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:08 PM