Whispers From the Haredi Political and Social Scene

This week’s Haredi society roundup focuses heavily on politics, court rulings, and public appearances by leading rabbis, politicians, and media figures. It opens with a comment on a child who explained a half-hour delay to class by calling a traffic jam a “small desecration of God’s name,” and then notes the broader joking reaction in yeshiva circles to a decision by election chairman Justice Noam Sohlberg and the attorney general not to make arrests of draft dodgers on election day. Some in the yeshiva world are asking, sarcastically, whether that temporary immunity might also let them leave Israel and avoid arrest at Ben Gurion Airport.

The most dramatic item is leaked audio published by Channel 13’s Yoeli Brim, in which Rabbi Moshe Berzovsky of Slonim is heard speaking about drafting Haredim into the army. The recordings were made, according to the report, at the Jerusalem home of former Supreme Court president Aharon Barak, where Berzovsky sat for a conversation with others, including a former Haredi mayor. The participants reportedly do not know how the recording reached Brim. Another surprise came when a Torah scroll was brought into a Hasidic yeshiva in northern Israel in honor of Yisrael Beiteinu chairman Avigdor Liberman and his family.

The column also captures the atmosphere around the anti-draft car protest and the Knesset. On Tuesday the plenum was nearly empty, with only MK Avi Maoz speaking for one minute and protesting the treatment of Torah learners. The session opened at 4:01 p.m. and ended at 4:04 p.m., while a group of prison wardens who had come for a special Knesset visit left disappointed after five minutes. On Wednesday, members of Knesset were seen arranging a minyan for afternoon prayer, with Moishe Avutbul organizing it as a personal obligation.

Other sightings include ministers, MKs, rabbis, businessmen, broadcasters, and party operatives at weddings, bar mitzvahs, and religious events across Jerusalem, Bnei Brak, Beit Shemesh, Beitar Illit, Ashdod, and the United States. The roundup mentions new developments in the Haredi media world, including plans for a management conference at the newspaper HaDerech, a permanent tefillin stand at Channel 14, and the upcoming “Hekhalot” exhibition of sacred and historical objects. It ends with numerous congratulations for family celebrations and a steady hint that election season is approaching, even if no date has yet been set.