May 6, 2013
http://wordfromjerusalem.com/?p=4608
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Naftali Bennett represents one
of the most successful of the new generation of Israeli politicians to
have emerged from the recent Knesset elections.
The charismatic 41 year old
religious Zionist has rejuvenated the moribund Bayit Yehudi which was on
the verge of extinction. Bennett graduated from the elite IDF Sayeret
Matkal commando unit and in his 30s was a co- founder of a startup
company which was sold for $145 million. He subsequently served as
bureau chief of staff to Prime Minister Netanyahu and after personal
differences with him was appointed Director General of the Council of
Settlements of Judea and Samaria (Yesha). Less than a year after
resigning that post, he was elected head of Bayit Yehudi.
Bennett led an extraordinary
election campaign which succeeded in winning votes from large numbers of
young people, many of whom were not religiously observant but
gravitated towards him because they considered him “cool” and forward
thinking.
During the election campaign, I
publicly noted that by merging with Tekuma the hard line settler’s
party, Bayit Yehudi absorbed a number of extremist religious
nationalists who by their excessive zeal for retaining the “Land” of
Israel had neglected the “Soul” of the people – Jewish education and
Jewish identity. This had contributed in no small measure towards the
decline of the religious Zionist political stream.
The inclusion of Tekuma also
further strengthened the growing “hardal” influence of those within the
party who endorse the haredi approach of more stringent interpretation
of Jewish law – in contrast to the more worldly and moderate approach of
traditional religious Zionists.
These issues have now come to
the forefront and Bennett’s response is likely to determine the
direction and fate of Bayit Yehudi.
Four of the 12 Bayit Yehudi
Knesset members – Uri Ariel, Eli Ben-Dahan, Zvulun Kalfa and Orit Struck
are representatives appointed by the Tekuma Rabbinical Council. The
most prominent rabbi on the Council is Dov Lior, Kiryat Arba’s Chief
Rabbi, who is notorious for suggesting that the mass murderer Baruch
Goldstein be considered “holier than all the martyrs of the Holocaust”.
Since the Gaza disengagement, Rabbi Lior instructed synagogues under his
authority to eliminate the prayer for the government and he also made
absurd racist statements such as alleging that conception with
non-Jewish sperm would cause genetic abnormalities.
In contrast to the traditional
policy of religious Zionists who have always separated the jurisdiction
of rabbis from political affairs, the Tekuma Constitution requires its
Knesset members to “accept rabbinical authority that shall guide the
elected representatives according to Torat Israel”. It states explicitly
that “the committee of rabbis of the party has the ultimate authority
in determining the principal ideological direction of the party and the
order of its candidates to the Knesset”.
The Tekuma Knesset contingent
is therefore obliged to implement directives of their rabbis whose
political and religious approach is a far cry from the moderate approach
promoted by Bennett.
When confronted with these
issues during the course of the election campaign, Bennett dismissed the
problem and reassured voters that after the elections, Tekuma MKs would
integrate within the party.
In fact Bennett emphasized his
pledge that Bayit Yehudi was committed to charting a totally new course,
reinvigorating religious Zionism and restoring it to its former premier
position in the Israeli religious establishment.
He undertook to wrest power
from the haredim and create a new climate in which religion would
flourish throughout the land by example rather than by coercion. He
undertook to promote a Zionist Chief Rabbinate and to inaugurate
procedures to overview and reform the problematic handling of marriage,
divorce and conversion which had been hijacked by the haredim who lacked
compassion and sought to impose the harshest interpretations of Jewish
law on the entire nation.
Bennett also pledged that he
would support legislation obliging haredim to contribute towards some
form of military or national service. Above all, he committed himself to
ensure that they become productive elements in the Israeli workplace
and no longer choose to remain dependent on state welfare throughout
their lives because of a conscious decision to learn fulltime.
However, the Tekuma rabbinical
leadership has now issued a formal letter to its MKs demanding that they
reject any effort to impose penalties on schools which refuse to
include core curriculum subjects like math or English into their
programs – a crucial component of any attempt to provide skills to
haredi students to enable them to earn a livelihood.
In their letter, the Tekuma
rabbis state explicitly “it is unthinkable that we would be partners to
the demands to harm the budgets of these Torah institutions, whether
they are Zionists or Haredi elementary schools, high schools or
yeshivot”.
The Tekuma rabbis also called
on their Knesset representatives to oppose steps to broaden the
committee determining the election of the Chief Rabbi and would benefit a
candidate like Rabbi David Stav, who is strongly supported by the
majority of religious Zionists. Although unsuccessful, they succeeded to
pressure Bayit Yehuda to oppose the logical requirement that a
candidate for Chief Rabbi must be qualified as a religious court judge
(Dayan) which would have narrowed the field of candidates and benefited
Rabbi Stav.
The haredim and other
hardliners bitterly oppose Rabbi Stav for being too “liberal”, despite
the fact that he is totally committed to halacha, a graduate of Yeshivat
Merkaz HaRav and a co-founder and chairman of Tzohar, the rabbinical
organization which has had a dramatic positive impact in terms of
outreach and providing religious ceremonial facilities to nonobservant
Israelis.
It is commonly accepted in
centrist religious Zionist circles that Rabbi Stav symbolizes everything
they stand for and that he has the capacity to reconnect the Chief
Rabbinate with Israeli society. His failure hitherto to obtain the
formal endorsement of either Bennett or Bayit Yehudi is solely due to
pressures and threats from the Tekuma elements within the party.
Naftali Bennett must now stand
up and deliver. He is facing a crossroads at which he will determine
whether the electoral success of Bayit Yehudi was a transitory
phenomenon or is poised to achieve a genuine revolution in the religious
life of the state.
Should he be unable or decline
to confront the Tekuma hardliners in his party, it will create enormous
disillusionment amongst his natural supporters who are likely to defect
from him in droves.
Beyond that, he will be
accused, justly, of undermining the efforts to weaken the stranglehold
of the anti-Zionist haredi parties, including Shas which has now become
the first Israeli political party to be headed by convicted criminal.
Bennett will also be condemned for standing on the sidelines and failing
to denounce and oppose the extremist views exemplified by Rabbi Lior
which should have no place in any authentic religious Zionist movement.
Above all he will have lost an
historic opportunity to achieve a national religious renaissance by
reasserting religious Zionism to its rightful role as the dominant force
in Israeli religious life. Were he to succeed, Bayit Yehudi would
uphold enlightened Jewish values, strengthen Jewish identity by example
rather than by coercion and achieve national unity by promoting
tolerance and easing tensions between religious and nonobservant
Israelis.
The writer’s website can be viewed at www.wordfromjerusalem.com.He may be contacted at ileibler@leibler.com
This column was originally published in the Jerusalem Post and Israel Hayom
Some of my recent articles:
Survivors Languish as Claims Conference issues Unresolved (May 1, 2013)
American Jewish Leaders: Stop the Rot Now (April 23, 2013)
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