In an article entitled "The Jewish Home and the National Union," Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed of Beit El calls on both parties to work for their common goals.  "Mutual recriminations are out, cooperation is in," he wrote in an article published over the weekend in the B'Sheva weekly newspaper and Arutz-7's Hebrew site.

Rabbi Melamed is the Dean of Yeshivat Beit El, which includes several institutions of higher Torah learning, as well as the founding rabbi of the town of Beit El, the 10th largest Jewish town in Judea and Samaria. 

The article states:

The positive aspiration to unite into one party did not succeed this time, even though even the two extremes – the heads of [left-wing religious] Meimad and those of [right-wing religious] Jewish Front – expressed willingness to join an all-encompassing union. I, too, very much wanted a union that would include the entire camp, from Kahane to Meimad, but apparently the hearts are not yet ready for such a thing.

Now that two party lists have been submitted on behalf of the religious-Zionist camp for the coming elections, it is not right to scrach around and seek out the reasons and those who are to blame for the failure to unite.  Both sides have strong claims against each other, but mutual recriminations will only hurt both of them.  What we must do now is to try to make the best out of the situation, to the advantage of both lists.

We are students of Rabbi Akiva, who taught, “Everything the All-Merciful does is for the best.” And if you say that this is said regarding G-d’s actions, whereas the current situation was caused by the free will of men? The answer is that even when mortal actions fail to succeed, we can say in retrospect that we must seek ways to turn the failure into a success…

In the situation at hand, each party should direct its efforts to its corresponding public.  The Jewish Home should turn to the traditional and religious public, for which the banner of “education” is very meaningful.  The National Union should turn to the Torani public, including significant parts of the hareidi-religious world, that wishes to raise high the banner of Torah and Land of Israel, as well as to the secular public that is devoted to the Land of Israel.

In this way, the two parties will encompass as wide of a public as possible, and together will score greater success than if they had run on one list.

The crucial condition for this success is for both parties to “be nice” to and help each other. They must not fight over those who voters who could go either way, but should rather concentrate on bringing back those religious-nationalist voters who are considering supporting other parties.  National Union representatives should go house-to-house and say, ‘If you don’t want to vote for the National Union, then vote for the Jewish Home’ – and vice-versa.  This is necessary not only for the sake of success in the elections, but is also right in and of itself. 

The parties must also sign a “mutual surplus votes agreement” as soon as possible [taking the surplus votes of each party and using them to possibly help one of them receive another Knesset mandate -ed.].

No Glossing Over

Let there be no misunderstanding: I do not mean to gloss over the differences between the two parties.  Both have the same general goal: We believe in G-d and His Torah, we both are striving for the Complete Redemption, and we all want the entire nation to return to the Torah and to its entire Land.  But the two parties believe in different means by which to reach these goals.

Therefore, each party should follow and promote its own path. After the elections, they should strive to work together in everything that unites them, by forming one parliamentary bloc. If the other religious parties can be persuaded to join as well, that would be even better.

My Position

As is known, I support the National Union, which took upon itself, with all its various factions, to listen to rabbinic instructions.  I hope and pray for its success.  At the same time, I pray for and wish success as well to the Jewish Home and to its leader Rabbi Prof. Hershkowitz.

The B’Sheva newspaper and the internet site of Arutz-7 will provide a respectable platform to all the parties that are loyal to the Torah and the Land.  We will be like the House of Hillel that would first quote the words of the House of Shammai.

Let us hope that all the religious parties increase their strength in the coming Knesset, and the same for the people of faith who seek the welfare of Torah and the totality of the Land.  “Let us be strong on behalf of our nation and our Land,” and in G-d’s Name we will succeed.