Seeking to exhibit an air of confidence, Yahadut HaTorah (United Torah Judaism) is moving ahead with its election campaign for the February 10th general elections for the 18th Knesset.
 
Advertisements are seen Hamodia on Sunday, as well as elsewhere, with UTJ moving ahead seeking to persuade voters they are “compelled” to vote UTJ “for their future, as well as the future of their families”.
 
“Do it for the chader for you grandchild, your mehadrin bus line, the mikve, the apartment for your family members” and so forth.
 
Unquestionably, Yahadut HaTorah officials are also concerned with Shas moving in on the Ashkenazi chareidi voting base as disenchantment with the party seems to spread among potential voters. The buzz of criticism cannot be ignored as UTJ politicians are under the scrutinizing eye of constituents, who exhibit a weariness, perhaps due to the inability of the party members to stop the in-fighting, seemingly more interested in their political gains than their true shlichus on behalf of Gedolei Yisrael and Am Yisrael.
 
Just as Operation Cast Lead threw the nation back to the painful memories of the Second Lebanon War, the upcoming general election thrusts the chareidi community back to the chilul Hashem that surrounded the Yerushalayim mayoral race, the disunity of a good day exacerbated by the outward display of disdain for one another on a bad day.
 
Today, we all live with the result of out inability to unite towards the common goal, and a growing number of voters are having difficulty viewing these very same representatives as role models and true shlichim.
 
Ultimately, the party members will rely on Gedolei Yisrael to instruct voters to cast their ballots for Yahadut HaTorah, but truth be said, the results following the upcoming election may reveal a different reality as the chareidi politicians have shunned the true needs of their community one time too many.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)