I Joined "The Jewish Home Party"

For the first time in a long, long time, I'm a member of a political party. Along with 20,000 others, I coughed up the membership fee (something like 39 NIS) and signed up. The reason for doing so is to try strengthen the religious character of the party. As much as I admire the work of the Jewish Home's secular MK, Ayelet Shaked, and in my opinion she has done a spectacular job, I don't want the successor of the National Religious Party to turn into an immitation of the Likud.

Our Unfortunate Situation

Yes, the situation is a mess. Relations between the National Religious public and the ultra-Orthodox are tense. The UOs are mad at the NRs for making a political pact with Yair Lapid. Although I understand that Naftali Bennett was really forced into this pact because of Netanyahu's desire to keep him and the Jewish Home party out of the government, I cannot say that I am happy about it. I wanted to see a different pact, and I warned what would happen if such a pact would not be formed:

The religious parties are now faced with a great task: to strive for unity! This unity must not be a unity of "lets grit our teeth and bear them". It must be a unity of mutual respect, founded on humbleness and the ability to see beyond one's own shteeble.

HaBayit HaYehudi went a long way on the road to unity before the elections, and it payed off in the polling booth. Now they, along with Shas and Yahadut HaTorah, must bury the hatchet, and find the way to sanctify God's name in the public sphere. The public will not forgive them if they fail.

Instead, we have this unfortunate situation. The man ultimately responsible is Prime Minister Netanyahu. He is the one who destroyed the natural Right/Religious/ultra-Orthodox block. In the previous elections he left the National Union out of the government, in spite of numerous promises to bring them in. In the current elections the Likud-Beiteinu campaign found nothing better to do than to besmirch the Jewish Home party. The Jewish Home party tried to form a block with Shas and UTJ. Since these efforts did not bear fruit, Bennett, like I wrote previously, had a choice between making a pact with Lapid or sitting in the opposition.

As far as the government that will be formed, they should know that any attempt to conscript Hareidim against their will is doomed to fail. Bennett will have to prove that he really is an "ach", a brother, to the ultra-Orthodox public who feels, justifiably or not, betrayed. The Jewish Home Party will have to stand like a fortified wall against the anti-Torah forces in the Yesh Atid party, as well as other anti-Torah MKs in the Knesset.

The Need to Strive for Unity

The elections are over and Binyamin Netanyahu is left with the formidable challenge of forming a stable coalition. This is a nerve wracking process, not only for the haggling politicians but also for the public who helplessly watch it unfold. In Israeli political discourse, the Russian variant of the word "coalition" is used: ko-a-litz-i-ah. Yitzchak Rabin used to call it go-a-litz-i-ah, a play on the Hebrew word for "disgusting". For once, I agree with Mr. Rabin.

As the stomach turns: Netanyahu could, in theory, ignore Yesh Atid's 19 mandates and form a narrow coalition of 61 MKs: 31 from Likud-Beiteinu, 12 from HaBayit HaYehudi, 11 from Shas and 7 from Yahadut HaTorah. However, such a coalition would likely be quite unstable, as it would only take 2 disgruntled MKs to take the government down. Therefore, Bibi is going to great lengths to please Ya'ir Lapid and his cohorts. Lapid better watch his step! For if Yesh Atid continues to grandstand, Bibi could very well leave them out of the coalition at the beginning. In such an event, wallowing in the opposition may very well cause the Yesh Atid party to disintegrate, with some of them forming a faction that will run on all fours in order to join the government.

With the expected change in the status quo regarding religion and state, one would expect that the religious parties would find a way to cooperate. Unfortunately, the distrust among them is very, very deep. In addition to this deep distrust is an equally deep enmity, fed by mutual disrespect. Everybody thinks that their way of life is the way of life, that their rabbis are the rabbis, and that anyone else just does not make the grade. The situation brings to mind the words of the Netziv, in his introduction to the book of Genesis:

Because of the groundless hatred in their hearts, they suspected anyone with a different religious practice of being a Sadducee or heretic. Due to this, they came to extreme bloodshed and to other evils until the Temple was destroyed. Regarding this came the justification of the divine judgment, because the Holy One, blessed be He, is a yashar, and He cannot tolerate righteous people like this unless they also function with decency in their dealings with the world.

The religious parties are now faced with a great task: to strive for unity! This unity must not be a unity of "lets grit our teeth and bear them". It must be a unity of mutual respect, founded on humbleness and the ability to see beyond one's own shteeble.

HaBayit HaYehudi went a long way on the road to unity before the elections, and it payed off in the polling booth. Now they, along with Shas and Yahadut HaTorah, must bury the hatchet, and find the way to sanctify God's name in the public sphere. The public will not forgive them if they fail.

Meet Moti Yogev From the "Jewish Home" Party

Interview With Yoni Shetbon From "The Jewish Home" Party

Here is an interview with another rookie MK (in Hebrew with French subtitles):

Why I'm Voting For "The Jewish Home" Party

Thank God, there are many worthy parties and people running for the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. So why am I voting for "The Jewish Home" party? There are several reasons. I'll try to spell them out.

1) Achdut (Unity): The combination of "Tekuma" and the "HaBayit HaYehudi" was and is no simple matter. The fact that they were able to unite for the common good is a good sign.

2) Naftali Bennett: Is he the Messiah? I don't think so, but he is a breath of fresh air. He is a proven leader on the battlefield and in the office. He conducted a clean and positive campaign. He stood behind the people on his list when they came under attack. He is, like the campaign says, a brother (ach).

He realizes that there will not be peace with the so called "Palestinians". He knows how to speak to the English speaking press. He is such a contrast to all of those Israeli leaders who are always occupied with how to please Abu Mazen.

Check out this interview. It is incredible. Here Naftali does more for Sabbath observance than a thousand demonstrations:

He realizes that there will not be peace with the so called "Palestinians".

3) The rest of the list: The Jewish Home list is diverse, full of ideological people who have already served the public in many ways.

I hope I can read this post a year from now and be proud that I voted for "The Jewish Home" party.

Meet Rabbi Eli Ben-Dahan

I think that this guy would make an would make an excellent Rav Ir or Rosh Yeshiva. He seems to be too nice for politics. In any case I wish him much success:

Jewish Home Party Videos

It looks like the surprise of this year's elections is going to be the Jewish Home party under the leadership of Naftali Bennett. I thought that I would post a few interesting videos of Jewish Home candidates.

In this video, Naftali Bennett squares off against Tzippi Livni. It's in Hebrew (LOL at what Bennett says at 6:50. He's talking about this guy. Bennett also puts Livni in her place at 7:50.):

This is Naftali Bennett's stability initiative - Doing what's good for Israel:

Jeremy Gimpel vs. Limor Livnat (Rabbi Gimpel has a good chance of making it into the Knesset according to the latest polls):

Unity!

So far, so good!:

Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) and the National Union-Tekuma factions officially merged Thursday and will run as a joint list for the 19th Knesset.

According to an agreement between Habayit Hayehudi chairman Naftali Bennett and National Union- Tekuma leader Knesset Member Uri Ariel, Bennet will head the joint list, which will continue to be called Habayit Hayehudi, followed by Arieli. Bennett will also be the party's senior minister should it join the next coalition, the deal states.

The first 15 spots on the list will be filled by nine representatives of Habayit Hayehudi and six Tekuma members.

The party's line-up ahead of the general elections in January is as follows:

1. Naftali Bennett

2. Uri Ariel

3. Nissan Slomiansky

4. Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Dahan (former director general of the rabbinical courts)

5. Ayelet Shaked (founder of "My Israel")

6. MK Uri Orbach

7. Zevulun Kalfa (kibbutzim representative)

8. Avi Wurtzman (deputy mayor of Beersheba)

9. Mordechai Yogev (deputy head of the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council)

10. Orit Strook (head of the Yesha Human Rights organization)

11. Yonatan Shetbun

12. Shuli Mualem (vice president, Organization of IDF Widows and Orphans)

13. Rabbi Hillel Horwitz

14. Jeremy Gimpel

15. Nachi Eyal

I'll probably vote for this party.

A New Kind of "Jewish Home" (part II)

Last week I wrote about the Jewish Home (HaBayit HaYehudi) party's election of a new chairman. Among other things I mentioned:

The pundits are noting that this is a changing of the guard. The younger generation of religious zionists, full of energy and internet savvy, have taken over the steering wheel. However, more important than the change of personnel is the change of vision. Bennett wants to change the "Jewish Home" from a sectorial party that worries about issues that affect the national religious public to a party with a much broader appeal and scope. Part of that vision is bringing Ayelet Shaked, his secular female cofounder of "My Israel" into the Jewish Home party.

Yesterday the party held primaries to elect the rest of the list for the upcoming elections. The results of the elections further reflect the changing of the guard:

1) Naftali Bennet
2) former MK Nissan Slomianski
3) Ayelet Shaked
4) MK Uri Orbach
5) Avi Wortzman
6) Motti Yogev
7) Yoni Shetbon
8) Shuli Muallem
9) Jeremy Gimpel
10) Rabbi Rachamim Nisimi

This is an absolute revolution, no questions about it! There is a lot of new blood here! I am amazed that Ayelet Shaked, a secular woman, received such a high position on the list. It will be interesting to see how this new and rejuvinated version of the National Religious Party will fare in the upcoming elections.

A New Kind of "Jewish Home"

I saw a long line of people outside of "Beit Ross" on Najara Street last night. I recognized a lot of the faces: local members of the National Religious public. They were waiting patiently to cast their vote for the leader of the "Jewish Home" party.

Now, the day after, the votes are in:

The new chairman of the Jewish Home party, Naftali Bennett, made a victory speech shortly after midnight on Tuesday night. With all the ballots counted, Bennett defeated his rival, MK Zevulun Orlev, with a majority of 67%.

Now that is a landslide!

The pundits are noting that this is a changing of the guard. The younger generation of religious zionists, full of energy and internet savvy, have taken over the steering wheel. However, more important than the change of personnel is the change of vision. Bennett wants to change the "Jewish Home" from a sectorial party that worries about issues that affect the national religious public to a party with a much broader appeal and scope. Part of that vision is bringing Ayelet Shaked, his secular female cofounder of "My Israel" into the Jewish Home party.

Not everybody is happy with this turn of events. I mentioned in a previous post the problem of voting for a secluar candidate. On the other hand, the "Chardali" people did not seem to have much of a problem joining forces with the secular Arye Eldad in the previous elections in the framework of the "National Union".

It will be interesting to see the list that will be chosen next week's primaries. Even more interesting will be the joint list of the "Jewish Home" and the "National Union".

In the meantime I saw this opinion piece by Meir Indor. It is definitely food for thought. Update: A very interesting interview of Ayelet Shaked. It's hard not to like the lady.

Rabbi Druckman, Rabbi Sherman and the Conversion Crisis (Part 3)

It seems that the National Religious Party is on a trip to Strawberry Fields, the place where "nothing is real." In the last issue of "Kippah Achat" (vol.11) the conversion issue is mentioned several times. But for the NRP, "Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see." The theme of "let's blame the ultra-Orthodox" while systematically ignoring the "forgery affair" of Rabbis Druckman and Avior repeats itself over and over again.

I encourage those of you that are concerned about this affair to download the document and see what I am talking about. I am not going to waste my time translating such cheap propaganda. I wonder, if the forgeries were perpetrated by Ehud Olmert or Ehud Barak, would the NRP MKs be willing to whitewash it in such a shameless manner? Is there anyone wearing a knitted kippah who will demand accountability from the Beit Din in Merkaz Shapira?

Because I admire Rabbi Druckman I expect him to fully address the forgery issue that has been documented by Rabbi Yisrael Rosen. Continuing to ignore it will not help the converts harmed, nor will it bring voters to the NRP. Emet MeEretz Titzmach.