Bennett seeks to break ultra-Orthodox grip on Religious Services Ministry

T. Belman. Bennett continues to impress with new initiatives. What he is asking for here differs little from my suggestions that we need a new secular/religious contract. By making this a very important plank he will steal votes from Liberman who is asking for the same thing.

I just suggested toBennett that Oslo and the PA should be terminated and that undermine the current complaint to the ICC which caused the investigation. It all depends on whether Palestine is a state. If no state, no investigation and no freeze.

New Right head issues ultimatum in bid to reform office held by Shas for years and bridge Orthodox-secular divideBy Jacob Maggid, TOI 

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett speaks to students of the Or Haim Yeshiva in Gush Etzion on September 1, 2014. (photo credit: Flash90)
Economy Minister Naftali Bennett speaks to students of the Or Haim Yeshiva in Gush Etzion on September 1, 2014. (photo credit: Flash90)

New Right party head Naftali Bennett said Tuesday that his party would condition its entry into any future coalition on appointing a figure from the religious Zionist community to the religious services minister post.

The Religious Services Ministry has been controlled by the ultra-Orthodox Shas party since 2008, minus a two year stint from 2013 to 2015 during which Bennett held the portfolio.

The ministry oversees budgets for state subsidized synagogues, ritual baths, state-funded rabbis, conversion courts, Jewish cradle-to-grave activities and kosher supervision, which Bennett indicated should be controlled by a more moderate figure.

The ultimatum was first reported by Channel 12 and confirmed by Bennett in a tweet moments later.

“We will return the religious portfolio to religious Zionism,” Bennett wrote.

“Our tradition and heritage should become a glue of unity, not a battle arena. We must restore the Judaism that brings people together: in issues of kashrut, in marriage, in conversion — in everything,” he said.

According to Channel 12, New Right does not necessarily want one of its own lawmakers to hold the position, but rather an outside leader in the national religious community, which is seen as less stringent on many religious issues than the ultra-Orthodox.

Ayelet Shaked and Naftali Bennett (L) at a press conference in Ramat Gan announcing Shaked as the new leader of the New Right party, July 21, 2019. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

Bennett’ and his No. 2 Ayelet Shaked split off from Jewish Home last year, claiming that the rabbinic leaders of the party prevented them from acting more independently.

New Right, which took similar hardline views on security issues to Jewish Home, has also campaigned on the notion of secular-religious partnership in an effort to bridge the gap between Israelis that has grown due to ultra-Orthodox hegemony over matters such as marriage, divorce and conversion.

Shas has demanded that Israel keep to a status quo regarding state-religion matters, such as the shuttering of business and public activities on Shabbat, angering others who claim their policies are a form of religious coercion.

In 2015, Bennett made a similar demand, warning that stripping his Jewish Home party of its control over the Religious Affairs Ministry would be a “red line.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went on to appoint Shas head Aryeh Deri to the post anyway.

In 2018, Bennett threatened to bring down the government with a public demand that he be made defense minister. He later backed down from his ultimatum, though he was given the defense portfolio last month as part of the caretaker government.

December 25, 2019 | 2 Comments »

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  1. Bennett is completely right the religious affairs ministry in their hands would be a step in the right direction.

    National Religious Zionist Rabbis in the IDF have done a very good job with a true conversion process for soldiers that desired it and not the off the wall attitudes that the Rabbinate and Haredi Rabbis have shown. There attitudes have divided Israelis and helped with the divide with some in the diaspora.

    The idea of enlisting Zohar is positive also in using them to perform conversions as City Rabbis or marry people. They already do this and the Rabbinate is forced to except their work because it is STRICTLY according to Halacha and done in a people friendly manner.

    The Rabbinate needs watering down of their power as they have abused it. The UTJ/Shas basically milk the state for money because of the political structure. Their members do share the burden and are among the poorest people in the country because of they insist on not properly educating their children in basic studies and peer pressure keeps them from joining the IDF or getting a meaningful education in most cases.

  2. I agree with Bennett that a national-religious person would be a better choice for Reliogious Affairs minister than a haredi. I think the national-religious rabbis are closer to the authentic, original Judaism that developed in the Land of Israel in Biblical and Talmudic times than the haredim. However, I think that Bennett’s party should reunite with the national-religious parties (there are three of them) so as to insure that all of them get into the Knesset in March. If the four parties (Bennet’s secular-nationalist group and the three national-religious parties) run separately, which seems to be their present plan, none will pass the threshhold for getting seats in the Knesset, and the left will have an overwhelming majority of seats as a result.

    I also think that Bennet and the national-religious should be prepared to cede the Religious Affairs ministry to the haredim if that is the only way to persuade them to support a right-wing nationlist government.