The Gerrer Rebbe, Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter shlita, has issued an official call urging his chassidim to vote for United Torah Judaism (UTJ). The Rebbe's appeal was published in Hamodia, a chareidi newspaper.
The Rebbe Has Spoken
Gerrer Rebbe Endorses United Torah Judaism
The Gerrer Rebbe has published an official call in the chareidi newspaper Hamodia urging his chassidim to vote for United Torah Judaism ahead of Israel's October 27 election.
Gur, also known as the Gerrer Chassidus, is Israel's largest chassidic community, with tens of thousands of members.
The call has a direct bearing on the joint list's strength. Withholding it would have cost the chareidi alliance seats and could have kept Belz candidate Elyakim Stark out of the Knesset.
On October 15, the Gur-affiliated paper had made no reference to the vote and had printed no call from the Rebbe to support UTJ. In earlier campaigns, such appeals ran prominently weeks before polling day. Ynet reported at the time that Gur leaders were weighing whether to withhold an official call to their followers altogether.
Behind the silence was a dispute inside the alliance. Agudat Yisrael was pressing Degel HaTorah for understandings on the status of Meir Porush and Stark. Yitzhak Goldknopf, Gur's senior political representative, held second place on the joint list, a slot considered secure. Stark was placed sixth. Gur representatives were negotiating over how positions within the alliance would be divided before election day.
Israelis go to the polls on October 27.
