It is now official. MK Meir Porush of the United Torah Judaism Party will leave the Knesset and run in the Jerusalem mayoral race. The announcement was made after the directorate of Agudas Yisrael chose selected Porush as the party’s candidate.
The decision is part of the rotation agreement between the two factions of UTJ, Degel HaTorah, which represents the Litvish world and Agudat Yisrael, the Chassidish. Mayor Uri Lupoliansky was the Degel HaTorah candidate.
Lupoliansky aides released a statement that Rav Lupoliansky abides by agreements, signaling he intends to step down, although this has not been made official at this time.
According to polls, Porush’s success in the race is not a given for a number of reasons. For one thing, many Jerusalemites not affiliated with the chareidi community view Porush’s external chassidish appearance as making him “more chareidi than Lupoliansky.”
Another factor is that Porush is more of a political hawk than Lupoliansky, a reality that some believe will be detrimental in the race.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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11 Responses
We want URI, me thinks that Nir will win vs Porush, he was an asset in the Knesset and should stay there instead.
Forget chassidish appearance. Lupoliansky had years of positive exposure in all sectors of Israel as the head of the medical help association Yad Sarah and even won the Israel prize. Porush is only known to the general public as a politician.
No doubt the statement “Lupoliansky aides released a statement that Rav Lupoliansky abides by agreements” is meant to contrast him with Rav Yitzchak Pindrus the highlt sucessful former Mayor of Beitar. There is a major differnce however between Beitar and Jerusalem: in Beitar there were two Haredi candidates. One had to win. It was a given that there would be a Haredi mayor. In Jerusalem it is quite different. The opposition to Agudas Yisrael will come from a secular candidate who, if as seems likely he wins, will place the sacred character of the Holy City on the back burner. Now that he has Lopoliansky’s statement, and he has proved his point, Porush should stand down himself and ask Lopoliansky to run again. That will give the Haredi population a much better chance of having a Haredi mayor heading the next City council. Unfortunately Posrush puts himself, and the glory of the Porush family, first in any given situation.
Looks like the UTJ has what to learn about politics. Hopefully R’ Porush wins anyway.
Dear Rabbi Porush, why don’t you think whats good for the klal. Lopolianski is doing an excellent job. even the secular say so. are you going to give that up just for your kovod?????? stay put and do your good job at the kneset. Don’t cry if a frei gets in, because if would be your fault> and we are all going to lose. Anav
I agree with PM. It seems like Agudah and DH’T are focusing on the trees rather than the forest. What’s more important, that each slightly different party get their piece of the pie, or that the frum candidate with the best chance of winning is posed to run Yerushalayim?
Now that it is a given that politics is the highest priority…and Nir will win…prepare for not Olemert II.. BUT Teddy Kollek II.
OK so now Porush knows that Lopoliansky “abides by agreements”, what next? Uri Lopoliansky was a much loved figure beacuse of his stweardship of Yad Sarah, something that certainly helped to get him elected. Porush is a haredi politician who is unknown in the secular world except as a face of fear; fear of the haredim. Instead of thinking of Meir Porush and the Porush family, he should now turn to Lopoliansky, thank him for honoring the agreement he made, and beg him to stand again for the sake of Haredi Jerusalem. That is the only way there may yet again be a Mayor who is sensitive to the haredi constituency in Jerusalem. Nir Barakat will have no time for haredim and he is the likely winner if Porush stands. The situation in Beitar was quite different. There the two candidates were both haredim and the “keeping agreements” argument was not going to affect the type of Mayor.
Porush should stand down himself and ask Lopoliansky to run again. That will give the Haredi population a much better chance of having a Haredi mayor heading the next City council.
This might be a first!!!! To let Lopoliansky run for the BETTERMENT OF KLAL YISROEL. Uri L. did not grow up in a Chareidi household, and yes that is the reason for his popularity among many, and his success in Yad Sarah which services all segments of Israeli society.
avreimi, you make a good point in #3. Pity you spoilt it with your moitze shem ra about a family that has achieved worlds over the years.
Seems from today’s news that the Agudah faction is frazzled and factured and not all in support of Porush. How will we survive in this disunity?