Shas’ Aryeh Deri was quick to use Knesset hopeful Ayelet Shaked’s statement from last week to speak out against the Bayit HaYehudi Party, which is without a doubt pulling away some former Shas voters.
Shaked last week called for establishing an alternative marriage system for those unwilling to marry or are prohibited from marrying in the current Chief Rabbinate system, which is designed to perpetuate the integrity of the Jewish People by safeguarding chupah and keddushin in Eretz Yisrael despite the secular majority.
In his opening comments Deri stated that Shaked’s comments were one of many statements released by members of the so-called religious party has he views it, interjecting that party leader Naftali Bennett’s wife is not frum.
When he got down to the issues, Deri stated that the party is seeking to compromise the giyur process in the country and this is a non-starter. Deri explains there are an estimated 300,000 Israelis who for one reason or another may not marry in the Rabbinate system. “Of this large number, about 2,500-3,000 annually opt to enter the state run giyur but for most, they are happy serving in the IDF, speaking Hebrew and being Israeli, and they are not looking to undertake kiyum Torah and Mitzvos.”
Deri acknowledges the need for widespread reform of the current Chief Rabbinate system, including the courts and marriage. He feels that while the reform is mandatory, it must be done while safeguarding Halacha, which he feels Bayit HaYehudi will not do. Deri states that the watered down giyur that Shaked and her colleagues are seeking will be based on Halacha, but it will include every possible heter and ultimately, we will find ourselves in a dangerous area.
Deri adds “they support buses on Shabbos and may other things. Even [Labor Party leader Shelly] Yacimovich opposes buses on Shabbos, as she views it as the national day of rest. For Bayit HaYehudi, everything should be left to dialogue and discussion. I think they are good people and well-intending, but they are not representative of true Yiddishkheit. As of today, what has Bennett done to prove himself other than his hi-tech success, his business in Ra’anana, which by the way I am not knocking, but what else do we really know about his abilities?
“I know and plan a widespread rabbinical system reform but with their system, we know where it begins but we do not know where it will end. The voters get it and that is why the polls show three seats remain undecided between Bennett’s party and Yair Lapid, not Shas, for those looking for Halacha cannot go to either of these parties.”
Deri adds “they hear the name Bennett, Bennett and Bennett and they run after him but they don’t really look at his platform, what he stands for. Chabad is running after Bennett and that is not the wish of the Rebbe ZT”L who instructed chassidim to ‘vote the most chareidi party’.
“The system that Shaked seeks will begin with an alternative system for those who genuinely require [referring to goyim,] it but it will lead to Jews who don’t wish to get married by Halacha using it to rather than travel to Cyprus [as many do today].
“Do we want Israel to become like the Diaspora, that every community rav will have to maintain a Sefer Yuchasin for his kehilla for that is what Bayit HaYehudi will bring us to.
“There are many people far wiser and greater than Bayit HaYehudi who have addressed these issues in the past and they were and are well-aware of the issues. It is not for the folks of Bayit HaYehudi to change these critical issues that impact the future of the Jewish People, as well-intending as they may be.”
YWN-ISRAEL adds that after Shaked’s statement, announcing her intentions to work to permit intermarriage, a prominent Yerushalayim rav affiliated with Bayit HaYehudi contacted party leaders seeking a retraction. He was told that they consulted with their public relations experts, who advise against such a move, fearing that many people did not hear Shaked’s statement, and a retraction will just bring this controversy to their ears and this would hurt the party on Election Day.
Some rabbonim feel Bennett should throw Shaked out for she publicly called to permit intermarriage. There are voters who are now scratching their in uncertainty just 48 hours before elections, and they explain Shaked’s statement was met with party silence, and for them, this is more troubling than the actual statement.
Speaking to Channel 2 TV News by phone on Sunday morning 9 Shevat, Shaked addressed disparaging remarks against Bayit HaYehudi by Likud and others, including Maran HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef Shlita who labeled the party “goyim”, stating the fact that they are being attacked by so many shows “we have done something right in the campaign.”
She explains “We tried to present ourselves in a positive way, telling voters what we stand for, without attacking others, and it appears we succeeded, resulting in attacks against us today.”
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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One Response
Deri acknowledges the need for widespread reform of the current Chief Rabbinate system, including the courts and marriage. ,…so where was SHAS the last 5 years in trying to implement widespread Reform?
Chabad is running after Bennett and that is not the wish of the Rebbe ZT”L who instructed chassidim to ‘vote the most chareidi party’…… Rebbe zt”l ordered Verdiger to let the Peres government fall when it agreed to a “land for peace” agreement. The Rebbe stood for a STRONG ISRAEL and would not have agreed to the Shas vote on OSLO. Deri is losing voters because of his pacifist views, face the facts.