Rabbi Hirsch Urges Breakaway Haredi Parties to Back United Torah Judaism

Rabbi Moshe Hillel Hirsch urged leaders of breakaway Haredi parties to direct their voters back to United Torah Judaism during an election-eve address in Modi’in Illit on October 26. He argued that the newer parties would fail to enter the Knesset and would divert votes from UTJ, whose ballot letter is Gimmel. His appeal also addressed people considering staying home rather than voting. Speaking to working Haredi families, Hirsch said the election affected them and their families directly. Hirsch told the new parties’ leaders to tell their voters that their lists would not get in anyway and to “come back to Gimmel.” He told those thinking of staying home that a “war of religion” unlike any before was being waged against the Haredi public, saying the independent Haredi school network and the girls’ seminaries had been ruined. Citing a passage of the Talmud, he said the community could not survive without special divine assistance. Among the new Haredi lists running in the October 27 election are Tzeva Shachor, founded by Rabbi Yaakov Chaim Miller in protest at the failure to pass a law exempting yeshiva students from military service, and HaTzibur HaHaredi, chaired by Moti Leitner, which campaigns for working Haredim. Leitner said on October 21 that his party would not withdraw, and Miller said his list was making “a real attempt to reach the Knesset.” In remarks reported on October 22, Hirsch had told voters with grievances that it was forbidden to go elsewhere and vote for someone else. The Central Elections Committee’s timetable sets November 4 for publication of the official results.