Monday, June 03, 2019
Who is the Admor of Gur, the Hasidic leader who plays coalition kingmaker?
When coalition negotiations collapsed Wednesday evening and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu organized a vote for the Knesset to dissolve, the majority of ultra-Orthodox factions had agreed to Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman’s demand to pass an unaltered bill regulating the draft of the ultra-Orthodox into the military.
But United Torah Judaism leader Yaakov Litzman swiftly rejected the offer, saying it would not accept any agreement based on Liberman’s demand.
Litzman is a member of the Gur Hasidic movement, and his powerful patron is the head of the sect, or Admor, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter.
Alter is a powerful figure in the ultra-Orthodox world and could again hold the keys to the formation of a coalition after Israel returns to the polls on September 17.
According to Channel 12 news, Litzman and Alter were childhood friends but a breach in the relationship became public in 2017 when Alter ordered Litzman to resign as health minister in protest of infrastructure work on rail lines performed on Shabbat.
Litzman is the leader of Agudath Yisrael, which along with Degel HaTorah makes up United Torah Judaism, and has a focus on cutting back public transportation operations on weekends and stronger enforcement against businesses operating during Shabbat hours. Lawmakers from United Torah Judaism have previously sparked coalition crises over public works projects on Shabbat, during which work is prohibited under Jewish law, including most recently over a pedestrian bridge spanning a major Tel Aviv highway.
However, the sect also has other considerations when negotiating a role in the government.
“In the end, the ultra-Orthodox also appreciate money,” Knesset correspondent for The Marker financial newspaper, Haggai Amit, told Channel 12. “They are not blind to this issue.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-admor-of-gur-the-powerful-hasidic-leader-who-plays-coalition-kingmaker/
But United Torah Judaism leader Yaakov Litzman swiftly rejected the offer, saying it would not accept any agreement based on Liberman’s demand.
Litzman is a member of the Gur Hasidic movement, and his powerful patron is the head of the sect, or Admor, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter.
Alter is a powerful figure in the ultra-Orthodox world and could again hold the keys to the formation of a coalition after Israel returns to the polls on September 17.
According to Channel 12 news, Litzman and Alter were childhood friends but a breach in the relationship became public in 2017 when Alter ordered Litzman to resign as health minister in protest of infrastructure work on rail lines performed on Shabbat.
Litzman is the leader of Agudath Yisrael, which along with Degel HaTorah makes up United Torah Judaism, and has a focus on cutting back public transportation operations on weekends and stronger enforcement against businesses operating during Shabbat hours. Lawmakers from United Torah Judaism have previously sparked coalition crises over public works projects on Shabbat, during which work is prohibited under Jewish law, including most recently over a pedestrian bridge spanning a major Tel Aviv highway.
However, the sect also has other considerations when negotiating a role in the government.
“In the end, the ultra-Orthodox also appreciate money,” Knesset correspondent for The Marker financial newspaper, Haggai Amit, told Channel 12. “They are not blind to this issue.”
https://www.timesofisrael.com/the-admor-of-gur-the-powerful-hasidic-leader-who-plays-coalition-kingmaker/
Comments:
Post a Comment
