Why I Consider Voting for a Haredi Party This Time
Over the past few weeks, I have spoken with quite a few Haredim — both Lithuanian and Hasidic, from a variety of communities and backgrounds — about HaTzibbur HaHaredi, the new Haredi Public Party headed by Moti Leitner.
I noticed an interesting pattern: Most of the Haredim I spoke with identify with the party’s principles — integrating Haredim into Israeli society, including military service and participation in the workforce — yet, at least for now, they do not intend to vote for it. The main reason is their fear that the party will not pass the electoral threshold.
And yet, the Haredi Public Party carries a message that many Israelis, across the political spectrum, have been waiting for years to hear.
Most Israelis want Haredim to serve in the IDF and join the workforce. At the same time, most of us believe that those who genuinely devote most of their day to Torah study should be allowed to continue doing so without interference. But those for whom full-time Torah study is not a suitable path — clearly, the great majority — must fulfill their civic duty and, in my view, their religious duty as well, by taking part in the defense of the Jewish people.
The Haredi Public Party supports precisely these goals.
Moti Leitner and his colleagues — men and women alike — understand that the State of Israel is not a foreign poritz, the powerful landowner of Jewish exile, whom one must outmaneuver until he eventually disappears. They understand that Israel is the state of the entire Jewish people and that responsibility for its survival rests upon all of us.
The party’s entry into the Knesset could change the rules of Israeli politics. It could help put an end to a culture of political extortion, sectoral funding and lack of transparency, while fostering a different kind of Haredi leadership.
My appeal is directed first and foremost to my Haredi brothers and sisters: If you identify with the party’s goals, do not allow the polls — which have long since also become instruments of political manipulation — to decide for you. Allowing the fear that a party may fail to cross the electoral threshold to dictate your vote can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Vote according to your conscience, even if you prefer not to declare your choice publicly.
But my appeal is also directed to my religious and secular brothers and sisters. We, too, must engage in honest self-examination: Do we genuinely want to promote the integration of Haredim into Israeli society while allowing them to preserve their religious and cultural identity? Or do we secretly expect them to assimilate into mainstream Israeli society and relinquish what makes them distinctive?
The Haredi way of life is not my path, particularly because of the overt and covert forms of oppression that exist in substantial parts of the community. At its best, however, Haredi society represents a counterculture that refuses to submit to the dictates of mainstream society, excessive consumerism and political correctness.
It sees itself as a spiritual elite in the observance of the mitzvot, modesty and fidelity to Torah values. This evokes a broad and complicated range of emotions in the rest of Israeli society — from resistance and aversion to concealed admiration.
From a sociological perspective, Haredim appear to fulfill a role similar to the one Jews played during two thousand years of exile among the nations. To a significant degree, they have become the Jews within the Jewish state. It is therefore no coincidence that some of the hostility directed toward them is colored by classical antisemitic stereotypes.
A new, healthier and more responsible generation is beginning to emerge within Haredi society. Instead of fearing it or lecturing it from the outside, we should extend a hand and embrace it as part of Israeli society.
Perhaps, if we want to bring about the change most of us have been waiting for, we must be willing to move beyond familiar patterns — and consider voting differently this time.
