The city of Elad is buzzing, the elections for the local authorities are already over and the battles between the ultra-orthodox parties for control of the city are taking a step forward, when on Monday night Rabbi Dov Lando, who is considered one of the leaders of the Lithuanian Torah Flag party, publishes a letter in which he comes out against the local and national Shas leadership.
The beginning of the act in the previous mayoral elections. The current hasidic mayor Israel Porush , the son of Minister Meir Porush has been ruling the city for the last few years with a strong hand and in the previous elections they asked the Torah Flag party to replace him with their own candidate - Yitzhak Pindrus who is currently serving as a full member of the Knesset.
As part of the fight for the mayor of the city, 'Degel Ha-Torah' people asked for the help of the local Shas party in mobilizing the Sephardic public for the candidate Pindrus, in return the 'Degel Ha-Torah' party signed that in the next elections, namely - the upcoming elections to be held at the end of 2023, Degel Torah will support the position of the Shas party to the mayor's office. After a petition submitted by the chairman of the Jewish Home in the city, Pindrus' candidacy was disqualified in the Supreme Court, following the claim that he is not a resident of the city, and the city returned to the hands of Porush.
Violation of the agreement of the Torah flag and support for the continuation of the parochial ministry
And now the years have passed and the election date is approaching, the Shas party is proposing its candidate - Yehuda Butbul for mayor, however, the Torah flag insists on sticking to the signed agreement and even signed a new agreement in recent days with the Shlomei Emunim faction led by Porush's Father, in which they pledge to support the continuation of Israel Porush's tenure in exchange for the distribution of cases and extensive powers to the people of the Torah flag in Elad.
The agreement drew great anger in the Shas party for the flag of the Torah that does not abide by the agreements, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri even took the elections in Elad for his personal project and positioned himself as the chairman of the election headquarters of the Spanish candidate for mayor Yehuda Butbul.
During his speech at a faction meeting held at the election headquarters, he said that Degel Torah's conduct in violating the agreement is the greatest blasphemy ever in ultra-orthodox Judaism.
Rabbi Lando: There is no value in signing the agreements
Last night, Rabbi Dov Lando, one of Rabbi Gershon Edelstein's successors in the leadership of the Torah Flag, published a scathing letter against the moves of the Shas movement in which he clarifies that the mayorship does not belong to anyone and even rules that any signing of agreements made between the parties in the previous elections They have no value and do not bind anyone.
The letter states that "the matter of the mayor's office does not belong to any party, but solely for the benefit of Judaism and education, the observance of the Torah and mitzvot. And in any case, any signing of agreements made between parties has no value and is not binding on anyone." In doing so, the Rabbi is reneging on the agreements made between the parties in the previous elections.
The rabbi also refers to the racist claims against the Torah flag: "And anyone who raises the issue of matters of identity and sects commits a great injustice, and when they fight, they directly or indirectly spoil the observance of Judaism there, apart from the blunt tongues which have no place and he must immediately go back and correct what he slandered and incited."
At the end of the letter, the rabbi signed "The writer with pain and sorrow is Dov Lando, who initiates and works in all this matter." And announces that he is behind the moves of the Torah flag faction in the city. There is no doubt that the Shas party will respond and perhaps try to harness its Council of Torah Sages to the story, either way, the story of the election campaign in Elad is far from over.