Rabbi Yitzhak Yehuda Yaroslavsky, considered the most senior Chabad rabbi in Israel, has sent a letter to the members of the Yamina party, pleading with them to reverse their decision to partner with center and left-wing parties to establish a coalition with Yair Lapid and others.
Yeshiva World News notes that the customary practice of Chabad rabbis is to avoid involvement in politics and that this step is a significant deviation from that quasi-policy.
“I am turning to you, unlike my usual habit, at literally the last moment, and in the lashon of the passuk [as is stated in the Torah] (Parshat Korach 16: 26): ‘Please turn away from the tents of these evil ones and don’t touch anything of theirs lest you die because of their sins,'” Rabbi Yaroslavsky wrote.
“This step poses a great danger to Klal Yisrael [the Jewish People] in all aspects and will be a bechiyahl’dorot [a source of weeping for generations] and it won’t be possible to stop the deterioration of this decision after, G-d forbid, the government is sworn in.
“Anyone who thwarts this plan is assured that he will merit [great blessings]; withstanding this challenge will bring infinite blessing to each one of you and your families … You will be engraved with golden letters in the history of the Jewish People as having withstood this great test at a difficult time, and for bringing salvation to the Jewish People.”