A yeshiva student always remains a yeshiva student.
How do I know that?
Because if a former yeshiva student founds an organization of ultra-Orthodox workers with the goal of gaining adequate representation on his party's list, he will, of course, do so at the last minute. A week before the lists are submitted.
And if a former yeshiva student establishes such an organization, he will do so in complete secrecy, sharing only a handful of confidants, as if he were still planning the Purim fundraiser in the locked room of the TAT.
And if, despite the elders saying that the plan is not a good idea, he manages to argue and explain that they are actually his biggest supporters - then he remains not only a yeshiva student, but also a scholar. Which is a blessed thing.
What I don't welcome is the mystery that surrounds all this activity, like the fog of battle.
No one is behind the initiative, and no face, or at least no name, has come forward to declare any connection to the idea. Which raises very serious questions for me about the purity of the intentions of the hidden founders. And maybe it's just me, but I've never particularly liked people who operate from hiding and undercover - unless that's their job.
Especially if they claim to represent me, the working ultra-Orthodox.
So since the idea's creator is a learned Yeshivasher, as I mentioned, I would like to present him with an innovation that he probably hasn't heard of: no one can represent me unless I have authorized them to do so.
This innovation is known by its more common name - democracy. So I would suggest to anyone who pretends to present a list of demands - which I have no idea what it includes - in my name and in the name of democracy, to respect it himself and to kindly ask the public's permission for the moves he is making, or is about to make.
I checked with Haredi colleges and asked working Haredim: There is no attempt to get the general public to sign a letter of appointment or any document of principles, or to ask for verbal consent to the idea.
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If they had bothered to ask me, they might have discovered that I strongly oppose some of the measures they are taking on their way to their goal. Especially the part about threats in the call to abstain from voting for the Haredi parties on Election Day.
I oppose this, because I care about the success of the Haredi parties in the elections, if only because they are the only ones who care about the world of Torah, yeshivas and avrechims, and whoever cares about this automatically gains my support.
Any person or entity that tries to interfere with them, and does so exactly two months before the elections, is not someone I would want to represent me. Because caring for the world of Torah is more important to me than the help I can receive in areas related to my work or in assistance in establishing educational institutions adapted to the working Haredi public.
Because more than I fear this moment, when I will be classified as type B compared to my neighbor in the village, I fear the day when the connection between us will cease to exist. The day when we will find ourselves standing on opposite sides of the barricade, holding different flags. The day when my children and his will truly be two different types from each other.
If they had bothered to ask the public, they might have discovered that many do not support such threats; perhaps they would have discovered that many of the working and student Haredim do not identify with separate representation for themselves, and see themselves as an integral part of the world of yeshivas and kollel synagogues.
How do I know that?
Because a yeshiva student always remains a yeshiva student.
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