Degel HaTorah ( he, דגל התורה, , Banner of the Torah) is an

Ashkenazi Ashkenazi Jews ( ; he, יְהוּדֵי אַשְׁכְּנַז, translit=Yehudei Ashkenaz, ; yi, אַשכּנזישע ייִדן, Ashkenazishe Yidn), also known as Ashkenazic Jews or ''Ashkenazim'',, Ashkenazi Hebrew pronunciation: , singu ...

Haredi political party in Israel. For much of its existence, it has been allied with Agudat Yisrael, under the name United Torah Judaism.

History

Degel HaTorah was founded in 1988, as a splinter from Agudat Israel. Its establishment by Rabbi Elazar Shach was due to ongoing policy disputes with the

Hasidic Hasidism, sometimes spelled Chassidism, and also known as Hasidic Judaism (Ashkenazi Hebrew: חסידות ''Ḥăsīdus'', ; originally, "piety"), is a Jewish religious group that arose as a spiritual revival movement in the territory of contem ...

rabbi A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as '' semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form o ...

s within Agudat Yisrael. In the

1988 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1988. Africa * 1988 Cameroonian general election * 1988 Equatorial Guinean legislative election * 1988 Kenyan general election * 1988 Malian parliamentary election * 1988 Rwandan parliamentary elect ...

, the party won two seats, taken by

Avraham Ravitz Avraham Ravitz ( he, אברהם רביץ, 13 January 1934 – 26 January 2009) was an Israeli politician and member of the Knesset for Degel HaTorah, which forms part of the United Torah Judaism alliance. Biography Avraham Ravitz was born in Tel ...

and Moshe Gafni, and joined Yitzhak Shamir's coalition government. For the 1992 elections, the party allied itself with Agudat Yisrael, under the name United Torah Judaism. Although the party split shortly before the

1996 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1996. * 1995–1996 Azerbaijani parliamentary election * 1996 Beninese presidential election * 1996 Comorian presidential election * 1996 New Zealand general election * 1996 Nicaraguan general electio ...

, they re-united for the elections. This was repeated for the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, and 2009 elections. Currently (2021), the party has three MKs (of the seven representing United Torah Judaism): Moshe Gafni, Ya'akov Asher, and Yitzhak Pindros.

Ideology

Degel HaTorah represents the "

Lithuanian Lithuanian may refer to: * Lithuanians * Lithuanian language * The country of Lithuania * Grand Duchy of Lithuania * Culture of Lithuania * Lithuanian cuisine * Lithuanian Jews as often called "Lithuanians" (''Lita'im'' or ''Litvaks'') by other Jew ...

wing" of the non-Hasidic Haredim (known as " Mitnagdim"), as opposed to the

-dominated Agudat Yisrael party. Sometimes, the parties compete against each other; at other times, they join forces within a political alliance called United Torah Judaism (UTJ) (''Yahadut HaTorah'' in Hebrew). In Jerusalem, it was based on a long-standing argument against a 1989 agreement between Degel HaTorah's then-spiritual leader Rabbi Elazar Shach, the venerated

Rosh yeshiva Rosh yeshiva ( he, ראש ישיבה, pl. he, ראשי ישיבה, '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primar ...

of the famed Ponevezh Yeshiva in

Bnei Brak Bnei Brak or Bene Beraq ( he, בְּנֵי בְּרַק ) is a city located on the central Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean Israeli coastal plain, coastal plain in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. A center of Haredi Judaism, Bnei Brak covers an are ...

, and the spiritual leader of Agudat Yisrael, the Pnei Menachem of Gur, Rabbi Pinchas Menachem Alter. The deal, based on the demographics of the time, stated that when UTJ would join forces, Aguda would receive 60% of the seats, and Degel 40%. This agreement was first contested in May 2016, when Degel's Knesset leader Moshe Gafni demanded that then-Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush resign from the Knesset, in order to give Degel 3 out of the 6 seats held by UTJ. Porush was able to keep his ministerial position under the 2015 so-called

Norwegian Law Norwegian law may refer to: *Norwegian Law (Israel), a law on the appointment of ministers and membership of the Knesset *Law of Norway Law in Norway follows a Civil law (legal system), civil law system. The Supreme Court of Norway, Supreme Court ...

. In 2018, Degel reached a 50-50 agreement with Aguda, with an Aguda representative as the Chairman of the party. Degel HaTorah's

nical arbiter (" posek") was, until his death in 2012, centenarian Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv of Jerusalem. Rabbi Eliashiv served as one of two Chairmen of Degel HaTorah's Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah ("Council of Torah Sages"). After Rabbi Eliyashiv's death, Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman led the party.

References

External links

Party history
Knesset website
Dei'ah Vedibur, weekly web publication with material from Yated Neeman newspaper
{{Israeli political parties 1988 establishments in Israel Ashkenazi Jews topics Haredi Judaism in Israel Orthodox Jewish political parties Political parties established in 1988 Political parties in Israel Conservative parties in Israel Social conservative parties Rabai Shech

History

Ideology

See also

References

External links