Head to head with Shas? Jewish Home attacks religious councils

June 8, 2020   

Jerusalem Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz and Jewish Home Director General Nir Orbach sent a letter today (Monday) to the party's representatives in local authorities and announced that Jewish Home is preparing to elect new members of religious councils. The two write: "In the coming days, the Minister of Religious Affairs will issue a letter to the mayors of cities that will begin the process of electing new members of religious councils across the country. Jewish Home, as a party that sees religious services, issues of religion and state, and the needs of the religious public as a central goal, is preparing to assist in electing religious council heads on behalf of Jewish Home." The party has established a steering committee headed by former Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs Rabbi Eli Ben Dahan and will include party Director General Nir Orbach, Shlomo Tanami, chairman of the Council of Religious Councils, Sharon Ruas, deputy head of the council in Katzrin, Lotan Farhi, chairman of the Jewish Home branch in the area, and Arie Friedman, head of the religious council in Ra'anana. "The committee's goal is to be in contact with the municipal representative and the candidate for head of a religious council in each city, to inform the local representatives of the procedure for establishing a religious council plenum and the tools that the committee can make available to them." Rabbi Peretz and Auerbach elaborated: "The committee will map all cities where there are religious councils, identify the Jewish Home candidates in each religious council and work to elect them while concentrating efforts on councils with high chances. "The committee will be in contact with coalition partners to examine all the options on the agenda and try to resolve local political problems that may prevent the appointment of Jewish Home representatives. The party will provide the committee and the political representatives with ongoing and available legal advice. "The municipal representatives, branch council heads and Jewish Home representatives on religious councils are the local leadership that handles the core business of Jewish Home: they are the service providers to the general public and the sector through the unique worldview of religious Zionism." The leaders of the Jewish Home added: "The establishment of the committee, as well as additional measures that we will take in the future, is intended to strengthen the local leadership and give it the opportunity to represent the Jewish Home voters at the municipal level in the most significant way.".