#0202_A_View_From_Haredi_Jerusalem

"The Lithuanian [Haredi communities] go to battle in Jerusalem: 'Each community [of Lithuanians] is equal to one Hasidic community [1].'

The first election conference for the ‘Degel’ party [2] in Jerusalem was held on Sunday, which is the opening shot for the upcoming municipal elections.
The head of the Hebron yeshiva [3] Rabbi Cohen addressed the issue of alleged discrimination against Lithuanian Torah institutions and said: 'We should unite. It is inconceivable that there are small communities that have forged an alliance with others and they are getting what they want while we, the Torah public, have to fight for every institution and every class,' he said.
Rabbi Cohen also referred to the independence of Haredi education and spoke of attempts to force the educational institutions for girls to accept students who are supposedly 'spiritually unsuitable.'

The Rabbi also addressed the claims of inequality within the United Torah Judaism party in the Jerusalem municipality and said: 'We have three representatives, but they do not represent us. We are a large public and we need more representatives who will reflect our size and take care of our rights,' said the head of the Hebron yeshiva.
'We have to remember that each of our communities is like each of theirs [4], we are one union that unites all the communities, and that's the only way we can get what we deserve.'"

– Kikar HaShabbat

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0202 Editor's Notes:
[1] Generally speaking, the Haredi public can be divided into 3 sectors; Sephardi, Hasidic and Lithuanian. Due to the upcoming municipal elections that are scheduled for the end of the year, the relationships between the sectors twist and turn. While in some localities the sectors unite to challenge non-Haredi contenders, in other places the elections intensify the rivalry as each sector attempts to gain as much political leverage as possible.
[2] ‘Degel Hatorah’ (lit. Flag of Torah) is one of the main Haredi parties of the Lithuanian community.
[3] The Hebron Yeshiva (institute for Jewish studies) is one the flagship Yeshivas in the world.
[4] Hasidim are divided into many Hasidic dynasties, ‘Hasidut’, which are each led by a prominent Rabbi who is the head of that Hasidic community. All members of each ‘Hasidut’ will vote for the candidate and party that the Rabbi will decide upon. This gives them significant political power. In his remarks here, Rabbi Cohen is reminding his followers that while Lithuanian Haredim aren’t organized in the same way, they too follow their Rabbis’ directives which should give them as much political power as the Hasidim.

#Elections #Municipality #Mayor #Hasidim #Lithuanian #Politics

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