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.