Yahadut Hatorah’s position regarding women on the party’s lineup is well known. According to Moshe Gafne, there is more to this than halacha and modesty, but electoral considerations. The Degel Hatorah faction head explains that even if one posits that including women on the list is halachically acceptable, in the case of the Ashkenazi chareidi party it would be detrimental at the polls.
Gafne was speaking with correspondent Shimron Effergan of the Mako website, who quoted R’ Yitzchak Ravitz, a son of the late Degel leader Rav Avraham Ravitz Z”L, who last week stated there was not halachic barrier to the inclusion of women on the list providing rabbonim give their approval. Gafne explained that Rav Yitzchak clarified, stating he was not correctly understood. Gafne added “But I can tell you that today, the chareidi women are more chareidi than the men”, explaining it is the women who oppose women on the list more than the men do. He stated adding women to the list would cut the party’s Knesset representation in half.
Regarding the split in the Shas party, Gafne denies the Ashkenazi chareidi party benefits from the disharmony in Shas. He stressed that a troubled Shas party is bad for Yahadut Hatorah and chareidi representation in Knesset and therefore, Yahadut Hatorah would like to see harmony and a strong Shas party. He concluded that if Shas was not running then gaining Shas’ votes would be a welcome trend but for as long as Shas is running, he prefers seeing a strong Shas in Knesset.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Huh?
Is Gafne attempting to have it both ways?
Or is YWN mistranslating again?
Yeshiva World News Breaking Headlines
Speaking with Mordechai Lavi of Kol Berama Radio on Tuesday morning 29 Teves, MK Moshe Gafne explained from his perspective there is no such thing as ‘working chareidi’.
Following is excerpts from the radio interview which lasted over 20 minutes.
Gafne
I do not accept the categorization. There are those who opt to leave yeshiva and join the working community.
KB
Are they called chareidim?
Gafne
No they are not. I do not accept this. It does not exist. One who does not learn in kollel and works has left.
=====================
Here is the version published in the Hebrew Mishpacha where MK Gafni clearly says that Chareidim are not defined on the basis of whether they work or learn in Kollel – but rather their allegiance to gedolim
My translation of MK Gafni’s words
….There is no such thing as “working chareidim” There are simply people who are chareidim. A person who educates his children the obey the gedoim is charedi. Why should it make a difference whether he works or not
============================This is Mishpachah’s transcript of the interview======
מה רוצים מכם מי שמכונים יהחרדים העובדים?’
“כל הסיפור הזה של חרדים עובדים הוא פיקציה. שקר. תעלול שהתפתח מעבר לכל פרופורציה בגלל אינטרסים צרים ומקומיים. אין דבר כזה חרדי עובד יש חרדי. נקודה. מי שמחנך את הילדים שלו לציית לגדולי ישראל הוא חרדי. מה זה משנה אם הוא עובד או לא? הרי ידגל התורהי הוקמה על ידי אנשים עובדים. כל המוסדות החרדיים הוקמו על ידי חרדים עובדים, מה זו הבדיחה הזו? את מי אני מייצג אם לא את העובדים?”
אתה מתעלם מבעיות של קבלה למוסרות שיש בעיקר לאנשים שעובדים.
“אני בכלל לא מתעלם. יש בעיות קשות. חלק מהבעיות אי אפשר לפתור. צריך להקים מוסדות שיתאימו לכל הסוגים באוכלוסייה, וזה מה שאנחנו עושים. השבוע נחנך מוסד לימודים חדש באלעד שמיועד לציבור הזה וישבתי עם נציגי אותו ציבור על מוסד דומה בפתח תקווה, אני חושב שצריך לסייע להם באמת וזה בדיוק מה שאנחנו עושים.
“אני רוצה לחדד נקודה נוספת: בסופו של דבר, גם מי שיצא מהכולל בשל אילוצים כאלה ואחרים,יודע שעולם התורה זה חוד החנית של העם היהודי. הם האליטה שלנו. להם אנחנו צריכים לדאוג. אני בטוח שכל אחד מאתנו מוכן לוותר לא מעט בשביל שעולם התורה ימשיך לפרוח. בסוף-בסוף, אנחנו צריכים לדאוג לעולם התורה, לאברכים, לעמלי התורה”.
There are many issues that need addressing -we all are in agreement with such as equal pay standards for women in general, charedi in particular – a problem worth dealing with, but if what the papers are reporting as said by leaders of this movement, at best these ladies are playing with fire -ignoring the wisdom of sages as they look for power. This drive for women as political voice in itself sounds at first productive, but in their formation, the by-product is that it is okay to defy the decisions of the gedolei hador. How was it that Sara shneirer was able to harness the opinion of all the top rabbinical leaders including major admorim behind her revolutionary cause.? The MEANS for the worthy causes they mention is very damaging since de facto a new generation of girls will follow their in chartered path and continue to defy the gedolei hador when things don’t change fast enough.
If the Rabbonim said including women was ok, they wouldn’t lose one vote.
IT took a NES for Sara Schneirer to get ‘Women’s education” on the front burner. Most gedolim were not in agreement, BTW #2.