interestingly, in the last few days the DL online news media has published a number of articles about the upcoming elections for the head of the Shomron regional council. The candidates for the position have been Yossi Dagan and Gershon Mesika.

The specific news articles I am referring to were reporting about announcements from Rav Shmuel Eliyahu and Rav Dovid Abuchatzeira, and perhaps some others. These rabbonim announced that Yossi Dagan should continue in his position of head of the council.

Fair enough.

What is interesting about this is that the Dati Leumi regularly states that they do not conduct their affairs the way the Haredi community does. They ask the rabbonim, but more as a consultation rather than as a psak of daas torah, and they do not feel obligated or committed to follow the [political or social (rather than halachic)] announcements of the rabbonim. If their rabbinic leadership says something, they take it under advisement, but do not necessarily act accordingly. The DL rabbonim do generally say who or what they support in various political elections or other affairs, but, again, it isn't binding on the DL public and they don't really take center stage in these issues and discussions.

So, what is interesting is that in this case, the DL went very Haredi. Not only were the rabbinic positions given center stage, Mesika even pulled out of the race because of it. I don't know if it is a trend or a one-time affair, maybe this specific issue was more "Chardal" to start with, or maybe it was something else. Maybe someone who follows this community and its trends more astutely might weigh in with an explanation...