Shimon Riklin: What's happening with the Haredim in the municipal elections? It seems as if Shas can't separate the union from the flag? Or is it? Or isn't it?
3 big mistakes that people who buy on credit make and how to avoid them!
Shari Roth: Shas is not succeeding. Period.
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
Riklin? Shas not succeeding?
Shari: It's hard for her, it's very hard for her. She's having trouble in several cities, for example in Elad, which is her flagship city. Aryeh Deri came to the city a year and a half ago and said, 'Yehuda Butbul is the next mayor,' back when Rabbi Kanievsky was alive. When you know, when you have such elderly Torah luminaries, you wait a bit to see during the elections who the ruling leadership will be. So it's a bit ahead of its time... and I don't see that he's managing to conquer the city there.
Riklin: And yet, Shas is a larger movement than Torah Judaism. In practice, they are stronger.
Shari: Here, you reinforced the damage. That's why Aryeh Deri feels so hurt. We are the majority there in Elad, how did the Ashkenazim conquer our goal? Like, again?
Riklin: How really?
Shari: Because the spiritual leader today at the Flag of the Torah, Rabbi Dov Lando, wants Yisrael Porosh as mayor of Elad. And nothing will help.
Riklin: What is the argument here about, actually? Because I see, they're dividing cities here like cards. You take Ashdod, I'll take Elad, in exchange for Bnei Brak, give me two councils in Givat Shmuel... Listen, I have to tell you that from the outside, it doesn't look like anything...
Sherry: Also from the inside...
Riklin: It seems more political than concern for the little citizen. There are all kinds of people taking pictures, and I don't live in Bnei Brak, I see the sidewalks there, I see the state of the construction, I see the overcrowding...
Sherry: Mice... rats...
Riklin: Listen, I love Haredim, it's shocking. And this political dialogue, 'You take Bnei Brak, and I'll take I don't know, Rosh HaAyin'... How does that help the little citizen?
Shari: These voices you're talking about will already be dominant voices in Haredi society in 2023, and you see it on the ground. People are already talking about it, people are saying 'Bnei Brak is not being managed,' 'There are mice in the streets'... Now, you ask me, a Shas candidate doesn't have any magic powder to sprinkle to eradicate mice.
Riklin: He is receiving support.
Sherry: Yes, but...
Riklin: It seems you are against Shas...
Shari: No, God forbid, Uriel Bosso is actually excellent as a person, in the Knesset he is great...
Riklin: He also wins, I think, in all the polls... and as someone from the outside, he receives very great support.
Sherry: So I don't know if it's possible to review two months before an election, and I'll tell you why. Because the voter is still confused. Take my mother, just for example. She lives in Bnei Brak, doesn't like the situation with the mice and rats, and she says, 'Here, Buso will solve the problem.' Now, I'm trying to explain to her that Buso is a great representative, he did an excellent job as deputy mayor in Petah Tikva, but in Bnei Brak there is business. And you replace a cow with a donkey, you don't really bring a solution.
Riklin: So who?
Sherry: You're asking me what the real solution is for Bnei Brak? Bring in some kind of project manager, who will be mayor, call it a committee or whatever you want to call it, make a 'stop', manage this city properly and then maybe return it to the hands of the activists. I don't like the fact that there aren't real elections, but that's how it is in the haredi community, that's how it works, so they're trying to somehow make a deal. Now, you're asking me what the result will be in Bnei Brak? I don't know, there could really be a surprise in the end and Uriel Bosso will win the election.
Riklin: Or Uriel Bosso will take himself off...
Sherry: That's one of the things that annoys people. Some say it's a bargaining chip.
Riklin: In favor of Ashdod?
Shari: Let's say, in favor of Ashdod...
Riklin: Why is this city so important to Deri?
Sherry: If I don't get into gossip, and I'm not one of those people who likes to get into gossip...
Riklin: I don't have a problem with gossip... I love gossip.
Sari: There is a good Shas candidate in Ashdod, Barak Sari...
Riklin: Yes, he was an advisor to Deri.
Shari: Right. And a truly decent person, and suitable to be mayor. He's also not Haredi, which I think is good for a mixed city like Ashdod. They replaced him, in my opinion temporarily, with Avi Amsalem, some say he will be replaced back, it doesn't matter, Shas comes and says, and it's legitimate, Shari isn't right for us, we want someone else, now Deri is ready, for this card, to pay a price, somewhere else.
Riklin: He wants to receive the support of...
Sherry: Of the Hasidim.
Riklin: Of the Hasidim in Ashdod...
Sherry: It's possible that the Hasidim are already closed with Sherry and he missed the train... but if they do give him Ashdod, I think it's no less important to him than Bnei Brak.
Riklin: Tell me, are the Haredim really not interested in their quality of life, on a daily basis, whether it's a rabbi or an unknown businessman, and I'm not comparing, but you describe this situation, I tell them, 'Okay, listen, I've made a deal for us,' do they do what they're told? Do 'whatever it takes'?
Shari: Look, every election campaign I get asked this question, by the way, even in national elections, they always ask this question again and I always say, it worked until today, I don't know what will happen from today... and they always tell me: 'No, the moderns will no longer obey.' In the end, the Haredi who comes to the polls, the Shasnik sees Rabbi Ovadia, his image, before his eyes, the Yeshiva 'flag' guy sees his Rabbi before his eyes, and the Hasidic his Rabbi before his eyes. That's how it works. What will happen this time? I don't know how to tell you, but I want to hope that this method will continue, by the way. Its price may be mice in the street, but I still see it... It's hard to educate the young people of our flock if you don't bring them this value of 'listen to the rabbis.' And it's true that language is less important, and still is.
Riklin: I say, you can listen to the rabbis, and also live in a city without rats. And mice.
Shari: Yes, I'm not saying that a Haredi mayor shouldn't act. And we journalists bring a lot of criticism of Haredi mayors after they take office. Act on behalf of dropout youth, I myself did a lot of articles in Bnei Brak, they didn't treat dropout youth as they should have. And now it's the mice and rats. Dropout youth, by the way, in my opinion is a more existential and critical problem. You're right in what you say, but this part of listening to the voice of rabbis is still a value that I would like to preserve, at least in my own home.
Riklin: It is definitely an important value, it is an important value for all of us, in my opinion.
