The death of Rav Elyashiv seems to have really hit UTJ hard. Since his death, everything seems to be unraveling. The haredi political power and growth is due in large part to the way they have been strong and unified - the various factions in the party have learned that it is in their best interests to work together and hold unified positions on public policy, while towards their electorate they also developed a strong unified front and in return were given a great level of trust by the haredi community.
Since Rav Elyashiv's death however, things have not been the same, and now with elections coming things are getting intense, and will continue to get more intense. There have been power struggles everywhere. Belz and Vishnitz are fighting over pecking order in the party, different factions among the Litvishe have been fighting over leadership of the Degel faction, factions are threatening to break off and either form another party or join SHAS, etc.
I expect that sooner or later they will realize they are headed for a disaster and will work things out and get back to the unified front. That is usually what happens in UTJ, though if the fighting extends for too long a period of time, they might get hurt and lose some voters...
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it already started, in the beitar elections and in the jerusalem city elections. maybe now the fighting will enter a higher gear, but the splits have been apparent for years.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry, if UTJ feels its losing voters they'll dispatch Rav Shteinman around the country to threaten the infidels with eternal damnation for not voting Gimmel.
ReplyDeleteharedi political power and growth ???
ReplyDeleteI have to disagree with any idea of growth. If anything, the 4-6 seats over the past 15 years shows how there is no growth and actually a reduction if you take into account the rapidly expanding Haredi voting numbers. In the last elections, Yahadut Hatorah actually lost a seat. The Haredi public, not unlike the Arabs, do not really believe in their representatives. Many Haredim simply might not vote (or vote for Shas) and a significant percentage of Labour Party voters are actually Arabs who can't stand the Arab parties.
Josh
that is true. I stand corrected. There has, however, been tremendous growth in local municipal elections.
ReplyDeleteUTJ: Not united, not Torah, not Judaism.
ReplyDelete