The High Court of Justice accepted Yesh Atid's petition against the strange status of the title "Deputy Minister in the rank of Minister" - which is held by Yaakov Litzman of United Torah Judaism, and the feeling on the Haredi street is that the new move is another stage in the war or harassment of Yesh Atid and Yair Lapid against the Haredi.
But the question of appointing an ultra-Orthodox MK as a minister is not merely semantic. There is a fundamental element to it that cannot be ignored under the guise of attributing the move to the old dispute with the 'seculars', or to the worn-out claim that 'Lapid is trying to harass the ultra-Orthodox.' This move has national, Israeli-wide implications, the importance of which cannot be overstated. It's just that recognition of it has not yet permeated the ultra-Orthodox mainstream.
The cynical humor of the ultra-Orthodox journalists about Lapid 'doing Litzman a huge favor' proves how narrow, superficial, and so un-state-minded the ultra-Orthodox perception sometimes is.
To clarify my words, I would like to go back in time, to the days before the release of Gilad Shalit, 'our child,' who had been in Hamas captivity for over 5 years.
September 2011
The increasing publications about the deal to release the kidnapped soldier, in the face of the heavy price that Israel will be forced to pay, raise the question of the feasibility of the implementation to the center of the Israeli - collective - agenda.
There is no Israeli-Jewish, it seems, who is not following the moves with vigilance and anxiety, and there is no one who has not given his mind to the freezing question of price.
The winds are also stormy in the Knesset: National Union members are slamming Netanyahu for making concessions that are worse than Olmert, and on the other hand, many members of the House, and not necessarily from the left side of the map, see the deal as a necessary and reasonable step in real life.
However, along this delicate and fragile seam line, it is possible to identify the distinct differences between the parties that make up the 'ultra-Orthodox bloc', and discover that the qualitative gap between them often outweighs the common ground.
For, while the ministers of the Shas movement will be forced with a trembling heart to vote at the government meeting on the future of the prisoner deal, the deputy ministers, committee heads, and other members of United Torah Judaism will enjoy peace of mind.
Indeed, representatives of United Torah Judaism do not serve in positions around the government table and are not required to ask questions or make weighty decisions.
And this almost surreal concept, which has been moving peacefully in the inertia of time for so many years, may now stir and drive the soul of the individual Haredi: Why has the voice of his loyal representatives, which is heard so frequently, suddenly fallen silent, why is their position on such a charged issue not made public?
The Shalit case is an excellent paradigm for the many years of avoiding the burning issues that concern the bedrock of our existence here in the State of Israel, under the guise of distancing oneself from the government table and shunning its responsibility.
Why wouldn't our envoys look directly at Gilad Shalit's father, for example, and tell him that, in their opinion, sending the murderers to the streets of Gaza could cost the lives of hundreds of Israelis? Why wouldn't our representatives, whom we sent to the Knesset, look into the eyes of the families of the murdered and say with a trembling voice that ransoming prisoners in this case is appropriate and correct, and that they also examined this determination against the question of the security risk?
Why is this burden so heavy, placed solely on the shoulders of Eli Yishai and Ariel Atias [Shas MKs at the time]? Are we Haredim, many of whom voted for the Ashkenazi movement, second-class citizens whose voices are not worthy of being heard?
People like MKs Gafni, Litzman, Mozes, etc. were also sent by us - the Haredi public - to carry our voice and our worldview on the Knesset stage.
For this purpose, simply put, they were appointed.
It was fitting that in days like these, when the hearts of the people of Israel, at all levels, are torn along with the hearts of the Prime Minister and the Minister of Defense, their voice – our voice – would be clearer and more decisive.
September 2015
On Thursday afternoon, Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman will be forced to accept, against his will, the status of 'Minister'.
The new title won't change his lifestyle in the slightest. The cynical Haredi journalists will be quick to snicker on Twitter about Litzman 'playing it for Lapid', but he will probably continue to live in his 2.5-room apartment, which, with the help of Torah, and even his so-experienced heart, we can assume, won't back down.
On the other hand, he will sit around the government table and vote before the next war: for, against.
For entering Gaza while simultaneously raising his hand for the deaths of dozens of Jewish soldiers, or against while simultaneously supporting the continued firing of missiles and the deaths of dozens of civilians.
He will be required to be interviewed by the media and express his opinion on Israel's international relations and the Iranian nuclear issue.
It's not easy.
At this point, the superficial jokes of the ultra-Orthodox journalists will become tasteless, and most of us will probably no longer be interested in exchanging jokes with them.
But he is a minister in the government.
He was simply chosen for this purpose.
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