The Central Elections Committee on Thursday instructed the ultra-Orthodox Shas Party to remove by 6 p.m. a political campaign that promised to honor new supporters and existing supporters who recruit them with the inscription of a letter in a new Torah scroll being prepared for the Western Wall.
In Orthodox Judaism, making a donation and having a letter inscribed in a Torah scroll in one’s name is regarded as a praiseworthy pursuit.
Committee chairman Supreme Court Justice Hanan Melcer said the campaign contravened election law by appearing to offer a reward, in the form of a blessing, for party support.
Melcer was responding to a petition submitted by the Movement for Quality Government.
He added that the scroll could only be taken into the Western Wall plaza after polling day.
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Shas responded by saying that the party would petition the High Court against the decision, which they labeled “cultural persecution.”
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