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Mar 19, 2013
Bet Shemesh Elections 2013-City at a Crossroads
A Guest Post by Zev Kaplan
Just as we are beginning to recover from the frenzy of
the national elections, Bet Shemesh finds itself at the threshold of municipal
elections which according to most opinions are going to determine the course of
the city for decades to come, if not permanently. October 22, 2013 will be the
day that either the charedim led by incumbent mayor Moshe Abutbul or a
representative of Yahadut HaTorah will continue upon the path they have been
leading us the past five years or a conglomeration of non-charedi parties will
join together to support a dati or mesorati candidate that will unseat Abutbul
and put a brake on the charedization of this mixed and troubled city.
Unfortunately, it seems that the vote will not be about the best man for the
job but rather a referendum on the path the city should take. Do we want to
head in the direction of Bnei Brak or rather a mixed city such as Jerusalem,
where many different groups live in harmony and massive one-sided building
plans do not threaten the demographic balance? This demographic issue is
what makes this election especially critical or "gorali".
January's national election results show that that 46% of the population of BS
voted for charedi parties while 54% voted for Zionist ones. If the building in
RBS 3,4 and 5 is left unchecked, the charedi population will surely be a
significant majority by 2018.
At this point a bit of history is in order. Since its
inception as a city until 2008, Bet Shemesh was led by either the Likud or
Labor. Menachem Begin used to make regular trips to our city where he was
mobbed and treated like a hero, especially after he became prime minister in
1977. His victory was sweet vindication for a working-class, immigrant
population, which had disdain for the ruling elite. Religious parties were
not factors at all in Bet Shemesh (Aguda and Mizrachi) or were not yet
born(Shas). The city was like a village and consisted almost totally of
traditional, Sephardi immigrants until some charedim came in the 1980's.
The political debate was right-wing(Likud) or left-wing(Labor). Towards the end
of Likud mayor Daniel Vaknin's third term in 2008 many people felt that a
change was in order and supported the candidacy of Shalom Lerner as head of an
independent party called B'Yachad. At the end the race was between Vaknin,
Lerner and a city councilman named Moshe Abutbul who, with the support of Shas,
Yahudut Hatorah and two smaller non-charedi parties, easily won the three-way
race with 46% of the vote.
Much ink has been spilled in explaining how Bet Shemesh
went from being a Zionist stronghold to a charedi-led city as will be
explained below. The first and most obvious reason is the demographic balance
shifted as many charedim settled BS and were the primary residents of Ramat Bet
Shemesh A and B. Combine this with an understandable desire for change after 15 years of Vaknin's leadership
and an infusion of immigrants from Western countries(Anglos), Russians and
Ethiopians and you can see the makings of a political revolution. However,
Abutbul could not have won in 2008 without three factors, each of are critical
to understand as we approach October. Firstly, many people voted along their
religious affiliation and when one charedi candidate is running against two
serious non-charedi candidates(although both were dati) the results were
predictable. For illustrative purposes, assuming there are half in favor of one
faction and half in favor of another(the reality is far more complex and grey)
the one that runs by itself will get 50% and the other two will split the
remaining 50%. A second major reason is for political reasons the Labor
party(led by Richard Peres) and the Dor Acher party(Meir Balayish) made a deal
with Abutbul and supported and endorsed him. Their reasons for doing so are
complex but clearly the lack of proper communication and failed attempts at
unity between Vaknin and Lerner could not have helped. This lack of unity,
combined with general inertia and despair brings us to the third major reason
for the political upheaval. Voter turnout among the charedim with a united
mission and sense of purpose was extremely high, reaching close to 80% while
among the general population it was in the 65-70% range. These
"wasted" votes are critical and people will only turn out if they are
excited by a sole candidate who gives them hope for a better future.
Turning to 2013, the local election season is currently
in full swing. The first to announce his candidacy was local lawyer Shimon
Biton, well-known among locals for his over 25 years of involvement
in local journalism and strong anti-corruption record. In recent weeks the
floodgates have opened with announcements from Eli Cohen, (who worked many
years for the Jewish Agency in South America and in Israel and
currently with the Water Authority), Moti Cohen (a current city councilman
and owner of the furniture store in Bet Shemesh-Reheitei Lotus) and
Deputy Mayor Meir Balayish in rapid succession. Rumor has it that several other
people intend on announcing their candidacies in the coming weeks. One
thing is clear to all that the chances of unseating Abutbul are greatly
diminished if there is not one agreed-upon candidate. Efforts are underway to
unite the candidates and factions in the form of weekly meetings designed to
create a forum and recipe for turning many into one. These events have been
well-attended by almost all the veteran local journalists,
politicians, activists and all the candidates themselves. While this is an
encouraging development for the "Zionist" sector, it is a work in
progress. With regard to the charedi sector, rumor has it that the
Ashkenazim(Yahadut HaTorah) wants to challenge Abutbul for leadership of the
camp as they are greatly in the majority over Sephardy charedim(Shasniks)
and even that Shas itself has soured on Abutbul and is searching for a new
leader. As always, there are countless angles, spins and rumors and only down
the road will we discover what they agree upon.
As far as the Anglo community in BS in concerned, the views
run the gamut of political orientation. I spoke to Anglo members of the Gur
community who vowed to vote "as ordered by the rebbe"(communicated by
signal on election day) and to Anglo "Tov" voters who said they are
open minded about any candidate "depending on who he is and if he
understands religious concerns". A sizable number of Anglo voters in Givat
Sharett, Migdal Hamayim and Givat Savyon prefer anyone to the current mayor, as
they are still smarting from the Orot Banot fiasco,hadrat nashim,creeping
religious extremism and a feeling that Abutbul doesn't take their needs into
account. Many are enthusiastic about Eli Cohen. In addition, many
Anglo olim in the Rama told me that they would place much emphasis on
their rabbonim or politicians recommend, wich would mean voting for a charedi
candidate if their orientation is "black and white", a
"Zionistic" candidate if they are "kipa sruga" and
"chofesh hatzba'ah" for those in the middle.
The situation regarding the local political scene
is clearly very complicated and changes by the day. We as Anglos who
very often can't or do not read the Hebrew local weekly newspapers are
even less aware about the comings and goings. This is compounded by the fact
that the cutural and political norms are very different in the Middle East than
in the countries we come from. As immigrants we need to understand that change
comes after understanding the playing field and working within the
system and not by wishing things were different. Living in a bubble can
only hurt our cause. We need to find common cause with our neighbors, be they
Israeli, Russian, Ethiopian, Ashkenazy, Sephardy, young or old if we are to
effect change in City Hall and if we are charedi we still need to realize that
Israeli charedi is vastly different than the version of charedi we are used to
in our countries of origin.
To conclude, this election season could be looked upon as
having two stages. The first stage which has already begun is when the list of
candidates is hopefully whittled down to two, as we are used to in the United
States. This is similar to the (Republican)party primary system
we recently witnessed, the difference being that the
populace does not have a vote as to who the candidate will be or even whether
there will be more than one from our camp. The final stage is the election,
scheduled for Oct. 22(18 Cheshvan). Unity is cleary beneficial and even
critical, as the charedim showed in 2008 and we are witnessing with the
Lapid-Bennett union. For better or worse, it seems that the coming election is
a stark choice between two world views which in a way makes understanding it
easier. Mistakes were made last time and hopefully we can all learn from them.
May the best candidate win.
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Who is Zev Kaplan? What is his personal Hashkafa? How does he feel about RBS B? And the increase of Charedi influences in RBS A? How does he feel about the Charedi rabbinic leadership there? (e.g. Rabbis Perlstein, Goldtein, Kornfeld, Kirschenbaum, and Manilowitz?)
ReplyDeleteI also wonder if there are any non Charedi Rabbonim there with similar influence? If so - how many? And do they match the number and influence of the Charedi Rabbanim there? And do they get along with the Chjaredi Rabbanim (and vice versa)?
I am Zev Kaplan from RBS(Nachal Shimshon)-Harry we are friends/neighbors of your son Meir. My personal hashkafa is not relevant to my article but I have always maintained that the Dati Leumi rabbonim need to be more proactive like their charedi brothers to promte the interests of their congregants
DeleteWell, perhaps we can meet on my annual visit next Sukkos. I like the way you think, Zev.
DeleteThank you Zev, but while this is a nice history and explains what it will take to unseat the current mayor - there is no "why" - You quickly comment on the haredization of the city, but please give some examples. We remember everyone screaming about Gimmel being all for the Haredim but that was nothing but a scare tactic from what i understand now. What about business, jobs, infrastructure. Lots has happened in the last 4 years. 2 malls, dozens of restaurants, new roads, hundreds if not thousands of jobs created. I don't see why we should not be voting for Abutbul other than your desire not to have the city turn haredi, which is not clear even if Abutbul stays as mayor - even if it was, that is not a reason not to vote for him.
ReplyDeleteSeriously, why no talk about their plans for city development, or business or jobs? Just more of the we need to hate him because he is Haredi. I have lived here for three years and watched the city blossom. I am not Haredi, I am barely religious but I am much more likely to vote for a candidate that has been producing for the city instead of one who just thinks his qualifications for office are that he has a colorful kippa.
ReplyDeleteI don't quite understand the logic of the opposition to the Charedim taking the leadership, but I clearly understand the emotion. But logically, if the Charedim form the largest bloc (by far) in Bet Shemesh, don't they "deserve" the leadership role? Similarly (but obviously not exactly) to the way the leader usually is chosen nationally - Likud Beiteinu got the most votes, so their leader was asked to form the next government.
ReplyDeleteFor example, if Bet Shemesh is 46% Charedi, 30% Dati Leumi, and 24% Chiloni, from which bloc should the leader come from? Logically.