Hello Eli Yishai,
This letter is written to you from a clean, impartial place – I know neither you nor Aryeh Deri – and it seeks only to express one puzzlement-question: What do you want for God's sake?
You probably feel hurt that your place at the top of the Shas movement's hierarchy was taken from you as if by a predetermined script. Not only did you lose the leadership of the movement, your chances of influencing its image, its people, and its actions were also reduced. Or as you would probably say, they disappeared as if they never existed.
It turns out that you are right. Second place and the promise of a 'senior minister' are nice political trappings, but they lack substance and influence on the path of the movement.
Everyone understands this.
But you, Yishai, are not the first political casualty, and certainly not the last. In fact, your successor in the role of former 'Chief Executive Officer of the State', and the now-released prisoner - Deri learned this well between the years 2002-2013. During these years, he did not hold any official position, did not initiate any moves, and certainly did not influence the movement's agenda.
Omri Sharon, David Levy, Zevulun Orlev, Ami Ayalon, Danny Ayalon, Shelly Yachimovich, Yossi Beilin, Amram Mitzna, etc. also jumped onto the unsympathetic list that Deri was on, and where you are now.
This is the evolution of brutal politics, and you, Eli Yishai, are painfully now placed in the position of the weak link. You must grasp this. Certainly as a man with rich political experience.
The clucking of tongues and sympathy for the sorrow you hear from all sides are without any basis. No one has ever pitied people like you, and no one remembers them today.
These hours can be tempting for you. Everyone gives you advice, puts you in the position of the underdog, and keeps whispering in your ear that you are powerful.
They are right.
At this point, you are indeed placed in the position of the 'poor', the persecuted, and the man who lost his world after 13 years of loyalty.
The hearts of many are with you. Mine too.
But all of this will disappear the day you declare war on Shas and the Council of Torah Scholars. Then no one will remember you, and your fate will be like that of Shas rebels for generations.
The opening will probably be festive and full of intentions, you will be invited for interviews, and the political commentators will show you a lot of warmth and empathy. But you, as an honest and decent person, may understand that this is false maximization, a group of opportunists who, in short, [also] recognized in you the tool to attack the Haredi party.
You can't really team up with Uri Ariel, who wears the knitted kippah and supports the draft law, and hope that ultra-Orthodox Sephardim will support you.
You can't really consult with Rabbi Steinman and other Torah luminaries, and then cry out with Ariel Westrock from Eretz Yisrael Hashloma that 'even a sin will not be returned' while Haredi Torah luminaries like Rabbi Shach and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef have taken the opposite approach.
And you don't really believe, or so one hopes, that anyone would believe the thesis that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, from his heavenly abode, for some reason supports your party now, and not the one whose leader was appointed by him only a few months before his passing.
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