A new political faction calling itself Hatzibur Hacharedi, or "The Haredi Public," has launched a nationwide campaign demanding proper representation on the Knesset lists of Degel HaTorah and Shas, arguing that tens of thousands of yeshiva students and young families have become the target of an unprecedented assault on the Torah world, according to Kikar HaShabbat.
The movement is led by Moti Leitner, deputy mayor of Beit Shemesh, and grew out of a deepening sense of disconnect between large segments of the Haredi public and its longtime political leadership. Leitner said the Torah world is under unprecedented attack and that tens of thousands of yeshiva students and young married men have become targets, adding that even as the Torah world flourishes, dropout rates are surging, families are collapsing under economic pressure, and many households are struggling to put food on the table, with some facing far graver outcomes. He said the realization of that reality left the movement's organizers unable to remain on the sidelines.
According to the report, representatives of Haredi communities and independent local factions have spent recent months in talks with senior officials in the established Haredi parties, demanding that a representative aligned with the new movement be added to the Knesset lists. Organizers say the challenges facing the Haredi sector have become a genuine threat to its future in Israel, and argue that younger, grounded leaders who have already proven themselves capable of solving practical problems need to be brought into the existing party lists. With those talks stalled, community and faction representatives decided to unite tens of thousands of Haredim under a single political umbrella instead.
Under the slogan "No Haredi party without the Haredi public," the faction launched a large-scale campaign on Sunday at entrances and exits to major Haredi population centers, focusing on Bnei Brak, Jerusalem and Elad. More than two million shekels have reportedly been invested in the campaign so far, which highlights three core issues the faction says it will focus on: the persecution of Torah scholars, what it calls shameful poverty within Haredi society, and surging dropout rates.
Leitner said the faction will continue pushing to be integrated into Degel HaTorah and Shas in order to strengthen the leadership ranks, reconnect them to the grassroots and produce real solutions to the community's most urgent struggles, and said the campaign will intensify for as long as the Haredi parties decline the faction's demand, with senior figures in the movement continuing to raise funds toward that end.
Leitner, 33, is married with four children and heads the Derech faction on the Beit Shemesh city council, where he serves as deputy mayor. His faction first ran in the most recent municipal elections and won two council seats. He is now leading a broad public campaign on behalf of communities that he says are not being answered by the political leadership, while continuing separate talks demanding representation with senior officials in the Haredi parties.
Leitner said organizers examined each of the community's painful issues in depth and formulated practical solutions to present to the public, and said that for the sake of the Haredi public's future in Israel, the flourishing of the Torah world, and a solution to the distress of hundreds of thousands of families, the movement is demanding what he called the self evident: proper representation for the Haredi public within the Haredi parties themselves, and a place for community representatives capable of addressing the existential threats now facing the sector.
Haredi political organizing outside the mainstream Haredi parties is not new, and has been attempted before in both Knesset and municipal races. About a month ago, a modern Haredi party was announced under the auspices of Rabbi Avraham Abergil in Netivot. A separate attempt by a group of modern Haredim to establish a party that would not answer to rabbinic authority has so far struggled to gain traction, though its future remains uncertain.
