MK (Yesh Atid) Rabbi Dov Lipman, who was an active outspoken supporter of Eli Cohen in the Beit Shemesh mayoral race spoke with Moti Lavi on Kol Berama Radio on Wednesday morning, 10 Adar II. Following are excerpts from his remarks.
Moti Lavi:
Are you smiling this morning?
MK Rabbi Dov Lipman:
For certain. B”H I got up and I have a wife, family and I am healthy, of course I am happy today.
Moti Lavi:
What about election…?
MK Lipman:
I sent an SMS to Rabbi Abutbul congratulating him and wish him success in handling the city.
Moti Lavi:
You lived in Beit Shemesh and earned your Knesset seat on the spitting story and now you guys tried again with this election, but it did not work.
MK Lipman:
In life one does not always win. When one does not one continues with one’s beliefs and that is what I am doing.
I got into Knesset due to my ideals and not because of that spitting incident.
I am fighting against extremism and will continue to do so in Knesset and elsewhere. This is what we must do; continue doing what we believe in.
You all believed that Yair Lapid was obsessed with how to get Abutbul out of Beit Shemesh. This simply is not so. He was not at all involved. He is quite busy with many other things.
Moti Lavi:
Don’t you realize many people believe you don’t even realize what you say at times and that you are Yair Lapid’s joke? Chareidim were all united behind one candidate and even the zealots came out and voted. Look what you do.
MK Rabbi Dov Lipman:
I do not agree. I am in touch with thousands of chareidim who support me including many chareidim. I do not share your vision for Eretz Yisrael and I do not only think of myself. I am very proud to be a part of the bill that will bring chareidim into the workplace and take them out of poverty. I will continue working towards this vision for this is what we believe in.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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13 Responses
Whether you like his policies or not he is truly a mentch. Truth is getting out the vote worked and hopefully getting more people involved will be a blessing. Hopefully Abutbul will offer a similar message and we can all move on.
So far what he has accomplished includes:
1) Showing that the Hareidi really are the majority in Beit Shemesh
2) Getting many anti-zionist hareidim to stop boycotting elections
3) Bringing the Israeli left back to life after over a generation of being doomed to opposition (thanks to the 18 hareidim in the Kenesset moving from right to left) – so much for his party’s pro-market agenda in the long run, and probably also the Hardal settlements.
4) Convincing many hareidim who for economic reasons wanted to be in the IDF that for halachic reasons they should refuse
It seems he and his friends deserve a trophyfor a record for kicking the ball into their own goal
I do not wish to indulge in invective or loshon horah, but those of us who learned in the same yeshiva as Lipman are amazed at the credibility he is credited with. This is a man in a party that is determined to uproot the fundamental rights of learning torah. They are systematically taking every possible penny from people who are moser nefesh to learn. We are embarassed from him. Time will show that a person who votes to put yeshiva boys in jail and did not stand up against this bill is not on the side of true Torah.
Mr. Lipman is a rasha merusha. His own former rosh yeshiva denounced him.
Glad that there are those individuals who can conclude an election with CONGRATS to all and now let us move forward.
There are many who should research, understand and learn the facts rather then keep on repeating HEADLINES that have no basis or value.
Now that Abutlul has hold of the reigns, the proof will be in the pudding. Will he be a MAYOR to the entire city of Bet Shemesh, is it a polarized political movement, can shalom reign in a city with a diverse population?
There must have been a reason that each SHEVAT was awarded their own landlots….to keep each one in a homogeneous environment and not have to deal with the personalities of the other.. EXCEPT that is not todays REALITY.
Mr. Lipman; can you explain this line, “I am in touch with thousands of chareidim who support me including many chareidim” 1000s of Chareidim including many Chareidim? maybe you have a misunderstanging of what Chareidim are, or maybe you are a liar, or a puppet for Bennet or plain a putz, but it seems that you are in touch with something else not reality,
HillofBeans…The current Rosh Yeshiva of his yeshiva may have denounced him, however, that was NOT his rosh Yeshiva! He has never had anything to do with him. His “rebbi” and Rosh Yeshiva was niftar 15 yrs ago.
1. Mr. Lipman doesn’t have a Rebbe or Rosh Yeshiva and he never did. R’ Yaakov Weinberg Z”TL is crying in Shamayim that he even met Mr. Lipman. Mr. Lipman is a one man show runaway train who doesn’t listen to anyone. He has always been controversial and has been hated in all his jobs (Just ask the people in Silver Spring where he grew up about him)…
2. Do you think it is a coincidence that on this tragic day that they passed this law about the army that 60 rockets have been sent from GAZA to Israel and ppl have already been injured????
There are tight elections all over the world. Some how the world goes on. I have no doubt that now that the political activists have clearly either lost or acquired the jobs they were fighting over, the temperature in the city will cool.
It is possible to have unity and good will even in a “divided” city. Unity does not mean that everyone thinks alike, dresses alike or acts alike. It means that they share a common goal but will passionately argue over the best means of reaching that goal. It means that those of different opinions can be political opponents but never, never enemies! We have no lack of real enemies, we do not have to convert out brothers and sisters into fictitious ones.
So let us argue. Let us debate. But let us never, never see each other as enemies no matter how much we disagree.
“I am fighting against extremism…”
That is the problem — HE is FIGHTING against extremism.
Obviously extremists have to be dealt with, but the question is by and by whom (and how much energy and focus do we put on them).
Fighting is one option, but not necessarily the best. I think in this case we have seen clearly that it has not been the best. They have attempt to throw the baby out with the bath water and have probably created more extremists, not less.
And to what extent are these issues important. All the time, energy and money they are spending on ‘fighting extremism’ means time, energy and money not spent on other (probably much more important) issues.
And that leads to the second problem, it is not at all clear that he (and those he have teamed up with) are really qualified to deal with this problem (indeed, not sure if they are qualified to deal with the other issues they’ve tackled, either).
They haven’t showed tremendous wisdom, sensitivity, insight, creativity or any other quality that is needed in successfully and helpfully dealing with issues. Their main strategy seems to treat people like economic cattle or to force them to do what they want them to do — spiced with various condescending sound-bytes and accusations.
And speaking of sound-bytes – the article above ends with one of them:
“I am very proud to be a part of the bill that will bring chareidim into the workplace and take them out of poverty.”
It seems the bill isn’t about forcing the Chareidim against their will into the army, it’s abut bringing them into the workplace and out of poverty. Beyond the obvious political spin, this bill won’t bring Chareidim into the workplace and out of poverty if they refuse to go along with the bill. If they don’t show up to the Chareidi centers of induction, don’t join the army, etc., then the only place they will end up (if the threat is carried out) is in jail – but hey, at least they won’t be poor since the state will then be providing them free room and board.
Thank u for ONE MORE VIEW
#2 akuperma – CONGRATS! That’s the best comment I’ve seen you write ever!
🙂
#2 akuperma – CONGRATS! That’s the best comment I’ve seen you write ever!
Agree!