For Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party, it is not just about drafting bnei yeshivos, but he has a greater vision, one that includes public buses running on Shabbos and Yomtov, as well as amending giyur to accommodate those viewed as problematic by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. His demands in coalition talks call for changing the long-standing religious status quo in Israel, one that has been accepted throughout the decades since the establishment of the state.
The daily Maariv quotes Yesh Atid officials explaining that many parties feel the same way and it is time to begin running public buses on Shabbos, albeit on a smaller scale than on weekdays, offering only limited service. Yesh Atid is also addressing matters pertaining to marriage, and it feels that couples classified by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel as פסול חיתון must have an alternative, and he is working towards creating a civilian marriage apparatus to serve these couple, many today traveling to Cyprus to get married in their effort to circumvent the Chief Rabbinate.
Yet another demand is to limit restrictions on candidates for conversion, and the party also sees a need to modify the Chief Rabbinate. Details are not provided as to what the modification will entail in Yesh Atid’s eyes.
Senior sources involved in the ongoing coalition talks report that negotiators are now working around-the-clock in the hope of signing a deal with Bayit HaYehudi and Yesh Atid by week’s end.
Regarding Bayit HaYehudi, Maariv states that the appointment of Naftali Bennett as the minister of finance appears all but certain. Interestingly, Likud/Beitenu sources quoted in the same report state that Bennett is not in line for the post, which was offered exclusively to Yair Lapid and his declining the post does not make it an option for Bennett.
The post of foreign minister will not be offered to either of the parties, as it will be held in the Likud/Beitenu family. Yesh Atid officials report they have not abandoned hope of getting the Foreign Ministry portfolio.
Yesh Atid on Wednesday morning canceled scheduled coalition talks due to the deadlock surrounding the number of cabinet ministers in the government.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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11 Responses
With useful idiots like Piron, on board, Lapid can continue to espouse his hatred for HKB”H and his Torah! It won’t get him very far. Lapid & Bennett will be an afterthougt very soon, swept into the dustbin of History!
First, lets get the Maariv report straight. The report claims that sources say that the Ministry of Finance was offered to Lapid and that – if he declines it – it will be offered to Bennett. The report also cites other sources that said that the offer was to Lapid only. At this stage then, the appointment of Bennett as minister of finance is but distant speculation.
While Yesh Atid is certainly looking to revise the status quo it is NOT ‘looking to destroy yiddishkheit’. Amongst the revisions that Yesh Atid is talking about you will also find enhancing the study of Torah amongst chilonim and requiring all Jewish students to study Talmud. If that is not enough, consider that two of their MKs are orthodox rabbis and that other MKs are orthodox and traditional Jews. One can certainly disagree with the merits of several of their proposals, or even with all of them, but such incendiary reporting serves no good purpose whatsoever.
It is now obvious that the person who writes the headlines for YWN never reads the articles and that he is at odds with the Israel desk of YWN. “Destroying yiddishkeit” ? It does not even come close to what is written in the article- different attitudes to some of the problems facing the Israeli public, but “destroying yiddishkeit”? what a parochial , defeatist view!
Remember what the Satmar Rebbe wrote about Mizrachi in Vayoel Moshe–the secular Zionists will use the religious Zionists until they have no use for them, and then toss them into the garbage.
Mafdal doesn’t exist anymore.
Bennett is next. Lapid will use him, get into power, and then toss him.
his end will be bitter hopefully bkorov
For Lapid he won’t drop all portfolios as long as he can fight the charaidim, since he knows that Hashem will not agree so hopefully he should at leat have some position.
SMART
Hashem Yishmor
seagiul- and , in the same way that he was wrong about the medinah, he will be proven wrong on this too!
1. There is a hiddush here? Lapid wants a secular state, free from the yoke of Torah (as they sing about in the zionist anthem).
2. The Chief Rabbinate concept reflects a Dati Leumi idea that for Israel to be “normal” everyone has to have the same halachic status. One can argue that this is a waste of time, since even if they have what looks like a proper wedding, most hilonim have no intention of being married “k’daas moshe v’yisrael”, and so they end the ceremony (staged as per government requirements) as other than halachically married. I believe most hareidim would suggest that it is better that they don’t have a valid halachic marriage since adultery is common among hilonim, and if the marriages were valid within a few generations they would be mamzerim.
Interesting –
the very same chareidim who scream from the rooftops that they are against the Medina, won’t serve in the army, won’t seek gainful employment and have turned the Rabbanut into a personal fiefdom for power, money and a hashkafa that ‘koach d’chumra adifa’ now pout when a chiloni wants the Medina to offer legal alternatives to those who want to marry, etc. outside the framework of halacha.
Incidentally, akuperma is neither a posek nor does he have any fact-based knowledge of the Datiim Leumiim or their ‘ideas’. Regarding the latter, there is no Dati Leumi idea that for Israel to be normal everyone has to have the same halachic status. What many if not most Datiim Leumiim believe is that chilonim are Jews and as such need to be covered by the halachic framework as much as possible. The chareidim prefer to classify them as aku’m, only useful as sources of monetary support and for putting their lives on the line in the army.
To akuperman:
The “Zionist” anthem? You mean
The anthem of the state of Israel, or do you refer to it as the “Zionist entity”?
The chief rabbinate being in charge of marriage and divorce is its greatest accomplishment. The alternative is what lapid wants-civil marriage, heffkerut. That will destroy the Jewish people G-d forbid.