From the Liveblog of
Friday, March 29, 2024
UTJ’s Degel Hatorah faction advised by rabbinic scholar to stay in government ‘for the time being’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
Rabbi Moshe Hirsch, the dean of Bnei Brak’s Slabodka yeshiva and a member of Degel Hatorah’s Council of Torah Sages, has advised the ultra-Orthodox party’s MKs not to bolt the coalition in the wake of Thursday’s High Court order to halt the funding for the monthly stipends of at least some yeshiva students.
According to the ultra-Orthodox news site Bhadrei Haredim, the US-born rabbi told the lawmakers that they should hold off on pulling out “for the time being” and instead pursue all possible remedies from within the government.
This includes advancing legislation to provide an alternate framework for funding the yeshivas, the site reported, adding that Rabbi Hirsch’s recommendation paralleled one by the Hasidic rabbis who provide the leadership of the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael party.
Together, the Degel HaTorah and Agudat Yisrael parties comprise the United Torah Judaism faction in the Knesset.
Speaking with the Times of Israel on Thursday, Agudat Yisrael MK Moshe Roth stated that “if the yeshiva students are drafted, UTJ will leave the coalition, although the decision lies with the council of Torah elders.”
