Haredi resident of Jerusalem’s Bayit Vegan sees show of strength in local vote
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
A polling station in the largely ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Bayit Vegan is doing brisk business, as a steady and substantial stream of men and women, in many cases with children in tow, turn up to cast votes in the municipal elections.
Voter turnout will likely be a key factor in the elections in Jerusalem and the Haredi community has traditionally very high rates of voter participation, largely due to rabbinic orders to vote as a matter of religious obligation.
Elazar, who declines to give his last name, says he voted for the ultra-Orthodox Bnei Torah party for the city council and for incumbent Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.
But Elazar, a student in the flagship Ponovitz Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, says local municipal issues are not a motivating factor for him in casting his vote, and neither is he even aware of what issues face the capital. “As a community, we don’t look at what is done [by the municipal politicians]; the elections are a chance for us to show what our numbers are and our political strength,” says the young yeshiva student.
Bnei Torah represents the Jerusalem Faction, an extremist splinter faction of the mainstream ultra-Orthodox community. The Jerusalem Faction has been frozen out of national politics due to a low-grade civil war it waged within the ultra-Orthodox community several years ago, and largely sees itself as having been politically persecuted by the mainstream parties.
Aryeh, who also declines to give his last name, says he voted for Lion for mayor and Agudat Yisrael, which represents the ultra-Orthodox Hasidic communities, for the city council.
“Lion has been a great mayor, he’s helped all the residents, Haredi, secular, the Arabs — who thank God don’t come out to vote,” says Aryeh.