Religious-Zionist rabbis lost to hareidi-religious rabbis for the two Chief Rabbi posts because religious-Zionist politicians tried to fight the hareidi world, according to Rabbi Mordechai Nagari, the religious Zionist Chief Rabbi of Maaleh Adumim.
“Unfortunately, the terrible stupidity of the religious-Zionist movement, which just this week supported the enlistment law, created a war here with the general public against the Torah scholars,” Rabbi Nagari told Arutz Sheva.
“Of course then the Torah scholars rose like lions to vote against religious Zionism, no matter who its candidates were,” he explained. “It was a war, one camp against the other.”
“The minute that the great Torah sages Rabbi Ovadia [Yosef] and Rabbi [Aharon Yehuda Lieb] Shteinman entered the picture [and forged a hareidi deal, ed], the battle was decided,” he said.
Every time the religious-Zionist community goes up against the hareidi community, it loses, Rabbi Nagari warned.
“We fought against the Torah, we got the Disengagement, we fought against the Torah again and we got the European boycott which hurts Judea and Samaria, and the rabbis’ loss [in the Rabbinate elections],” he argued.
“I advise Naftali Bennett not to talk about a national referendum. That’s not what will save us, what will protect the Land of Israel is protecting the Torah world,” he added.
Division within the religious-Zionist community also played a part in the elections failure, Rabbi Nagari said. “After all, Rabbi [David] Stav opposed the view of Torah espoused by normative religious Zionist rabbis. Rabbi [Haim] Druckman wanted to run Rabbi [Shlomo] Amar and Rabbi Ariel – it’s no wonder that this is the result,” he stated.