During his motzei Shabbos drasha, Rishon L’Tzion HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Yosef Shlita hinted to the election scene and ongoing efforts to bring Shas in to a united chareidi list with ashkenazi chareidi parties; Agudas Yisrael and Degel Hatorah. At the outset of his his shiur, Rav Yosef said, “not everything is achdus, the sephardim should remain alone”.

Speaking in the Yazdim Shul, Rav Yosef was simply referring to the empire built by his late father, Maran HaGaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef ZT”L, and the fears that would accompany joining a united chareidi list which is predominately ashkenazi, which he and other fear would lead to a deterioration in the sephardi identity Maran worked so hard to establish over decades.

Rav Yosef’s opinion is in line with that of Shas party chairman Minister Aryeh Deri and HaGaon HaRav Shalom Cohen Shlita, head of the Shas Moetzas Chachmei HaTorah.

Meanwhile, MK (Shas) Yaakov Margi, who chairs the Knesset Education Committee and is a veteran of the party, warns that running together in the upcoming election under a united chareidi umbrella with Yahadut Hatorah will bring about the destruction of the party.

Margi recently told the media that he is a big ‘chossid of achdus’ but he warns this does not mean that Shas can unite ahead of elections with the Yahadut Hatorah party, with the latter composed of Agudas Yisrael and Degel Hatorah, ashkenazi chareidi parties.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)