UTJ media broadcasts as well as tireless workers all over the
country will focus on the idea that the State of Israel must
strengthen Yiddishkeit and tradition and that this can be
achieved only by voting Gimmel.
The staff of the public relations headquarters of UTJ, headed
by Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz, has prepared a series of promotional
election broadcasts. Since the party currently has four
Knesset members, it has been allotted substantial time on the
broadcast media. Penetrating, upbeat advertisements will,
be'ezras Hashem, convince more voters to choose United
Torah Judaism.
The first in the series presented a picture of the
Kosel with Shema Yisroel heard in the
background. It then showed many observant and even secular
people who said that they had decided to vote Gimmel in
order to preserve the Jewish character of the state.
Additional programs will stress the achievements of Rabbi
Meir Porush in his capacity as deputy minister of the Housing
Ministry. They will show the massive construction underway
for the benefit of all sectors of society, and stress Rabbi
Porush's efforts for both individuals and the public at large
in the area of housing.
Another program called, "Chain of the Generations," opens
with a picture of a large monkey. The announcer asks the
viewer if the monkey is his grandfather. The answer is of
course "no;" his grandfather is an authentic Jew, who calls
upon his grandson to vote Gimmel.
A special program is devoted to the last letter written by
HaRav Yisroel Abuhatzeira, the Baba Sali, zt"l, before
his petirah. In his letter, he urges his followers to
vote for United Torah Jewry. In this broadcast, the announcer
asks the audience to fulfill the Baba Sali's last will and
testament.
UTJ intends to grapple with the anti-religious incitement
raging in the state, and says that the most effective
response to that incitement is to cast Gimmel in the
ballot box.
Campaign Headquarters
While some UTJ workers are preparing radio and television
shorts, UTJ personnel in the Headquarters are covering the
whole country with regional headquarters.
The policy which guided the Organizational Headquarters was
that of not selecting coordinators according to party or
faction, but in accordance with the needs of each region.
According to this plan, area coordinators were placed in 11
regions: the Upper Galil, the Galil, the North, the Sharon,
the Center, the Dan area, Modi'in-Lod, the South, Judea, the
Lachish region, and the Negev.
The Organizational Headquarters hopes to duplicate the
success which it merited in the municipal elections. Those
elections proved that UTJ has broad support in the
peripheries and in settlements which are far from Jerusalem
and Bnei Brak. "According to the results of the municipal
elections, we should expect a sixth mandate," they say in the
Organizational Headquarters, and present statistics to
corroborate their statements.
Country wide coordinators note that payments to workers have
also become more efficient. While other parties still owe
their workers wages from the municipal elections, all UTJ
workers were paid on time. As a result, many new workers have
asked to join the local offices. Of course, there are many
volunteers who donate their time in order to help the
effort.
Will the Achievements of Torah Jewry be Undermined After
the Elections?
At a joint meeting of the executive boards of Degel HaTorah
and Agudas Yisroel, convened last week in Jerusalem to
discuss the forthcoming elections, deep concern was expressed
over the severe undermining of the achievements of chareidi
Jewry over the past fifty years.
The meeting was opened by Rabbi Menachem Porush, who noted
that "tremendous dangers to our existence in our land are
facing us, and we fear that the achievements made over fifty
years are liable to be obliterated. The secular are resentful
of our educational structures and Torah institutions, and
their envy has resulted in hatred. They have one aim in these
elections: to confine us. These elections affect the
foundation of our existence. As a result, we must storm those
who storm us, and prevent those who abuse us from carrying
out their machinations."
Rabbi Porush stressed that the 28,000 UTJ voters who did not
vote in the last national election represent a figure which
should cause all of us to worry. At the end of his speech, he
invited the chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, MK
Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz, to speak. Rabbi Ravitz, a
representative of Degel HaTorah, is second on the UTJ slate
for the Knesset.
Rabbi Ravitz said that since the establishment of the State,
no party has ever dared to come out with statements which
deny the right of the chareidi community to live in
accordance with its conscience. This, however, has changed.
He sharply attacked the Labor party, saying that, "in all the
years of the existence of the State, never has a party made a
frontal attack against the chareidi community on the issue of
the conscription of yeshiva students, nor has the Supreme
Court ever assisted it in this issue."
Rabbi Ravitz described serious attempts to prevent the
chareidi community from receiving simply what it deserves.
"They are not ashamed to say that they want to eliminate us
nor to say that they are acting in the name of `justice' and
`honesty,'" he said.
He added, "We have not made special achievements in passing
legislation, but we have done a great deal to defeat
legislation meant to destroy the foundations of religion. We
are not the only religious representatives, but we are always
the dominant leaders in these issues. This time, we must go
out to the voting battlefield and utilize all means to arouse
the complacent."
MK Rabbi Shmuel Halpert, representative of Vishnitz, Chairman
of the Religious Lobby in the Knesset and fifth candidate on
the UTJ slate, said: "We are facing one of the most difficult
and dangerous periods in our annals. Things have reached the
point that certain elements are even attempting to disqualify
UTJ's slate from running for the Knesset. UTJ's public record
is replete with many achievements: support of the yeshivos,
the strengthening of Shabbos, the battle against the Reform
and the Conservatives, and actual housing solutions.
"This is a tension-filled, disconcerting period for Torah-
true Jewry. Rabid incitement is raging outside -- incitement
which seeks to wipe out all of our achievements and efforts.
I want to remind those here this evening of the achievements
of Rabbi Menachem Porush in the area of income supplements
for bnei Torah as well as of the monumental
achievements of his son, Deputy Housing Minister Rabbi Meir
Porush, in improving purchase terms of apartments in Beitar
Illit, Kiryat Sefer, Elad and similar locations, nor may we
forget the achievements made by Rabbi Ravitz in the Finance
Committee on behalf of Torah institutions.
Rabbi Yaakov Litzman, representative of Gur, a newcomer to
the Knesset list and the third candidate on the UTJ slate,
noted: "We submitted our slate to the Elections Committee
well before the deadline. The clerks on the committee were
amazed that this time we were among the first to arrive. This
showed the unity of the slate."
Rabbi Yisroel Eichler, a representative of Belz and the sixth
candidate on the UTJ slate, said: "We have reached a
situation in which there is no right and no left. The
chareidim are blamed for whatever occurs in the State. Since
its founding and until this very day, every single classroom
secured for chareidi education is an achievement, as if it
were not self-evident that these are things which we
rightfully deserve. Today, there is a prevailing aim to
undermine the yeshivas and to persecute their students. A Jew
who doesn't vote for UTJ bores a hole in the very boat in
which he is sailing. We must act on a personal and individual
level. Each one of our regular voters must telephone three
new voters."
Rabbi Yechiel Turgeman, a representative of the Organization
of Sephardic Marbitzei Torah and the seventh candidate, said:
"If not for the mesiras nefesh of the founders of
Agudas Yisroel, Sephardic Jewry would not be where it is
today. At the municipal elections we worked together with
extraordinary harmony, and that is what brought about our
impressive success. Our community is `pure olive oil,' and we
must not lose it. We must not repeat the mistakes of the
past."
Rabbi Chaim Miller, Deputy Mayor of the Jerusalem
Municipality (not on the Knesset list), said, "We owe a debt
of gratitude to all of the activists who toiled on behalf of
the municipal elections' success. If we are clever and work
together also this time, we will score an impressive
victory."
Rabbi Moshe Gafni, General Secretary of Degel HaTorah and the
fourth UTJ candidate, said: "We are facing a fateful battle,
in which we have reached a critical point in the relations
between the chareidi and anti-chareidi communities. Today,
they openly say that the chareidi community must be denied
its rights. We have nothing to argue about with Sarid or
Lapid. Our dialogue must take place at the polls, so that all
will see that the chareidi community fights for its right to
exist and wants the Jewish way of life to prevail."
Before closing the meeting, Rabbi Porush once again issued a
stirring call to battle. "The historic prayer rally of the
500,000 Torah-true Jews should remain before our eyes and
remind us that we have tremendous power," Rabbi Porush
said.
Rabbi Moshe Frank, Chairman of the Executive Board of the
Jerusalem branch of Degel HaTorah, delivered a stirring
closing message, in which he said, "Fifty years ago, their
hatred stemmed from derision. Today it stems from jealousy.
Chazal say that Har Sinai derives its name from the
fact that sinoh for the Jewish Nation descended on it,
and its name Har Chorev, from the churban they
wished to perpetrate. When Torah was given to Am
Yisroel, all sources of wisdom and ethics which had
existed until then were suddenly diminished. This resulted in
jealousy, which led one either to join the Jewish people or
to hate it. And this is the current situation. The nation is
essentially in favor of religion, except for a handful of
leaders who despise it. Our reply to them is to increase our
power. Only in that manner will we be able to grapple with
this hatred. We can draw many Jews closer to Yiddishkeit --
Jews who in the face of the antisemitic style of war raging
outside, prefer to identify with the Jewish side."
At the meeting it was decided that the executive committees
of Degel HaTorah and Agudas Yisroel will serve as the
election headquarters, and will select the various executive
and acting committees.
