Q&A: Rabbinic Control in Political Parties
Rabbinic Control in Political Parties
Question
Hello Rabbi,
There is a difference between the Jewish Home party and the Haredi parties: the Haredi parties are completely controlled by a council of rabbis, whereas the Jewish Home is not so much.
My main problem with rabbinic control in the Haredi parties is that most of those rabbis have hardly any knowledge of worldly matters (in fact, most of them are admired by the public דווקא because of their lack of such knowledge), so how exactly are they supposed to instruct the party what to do?
The difficulty is actually even with rabbis who are great Torah scholars and knowledgeable about the world and various fields of wisdom as well (such as yourself). Where is a religious party supposed to consult a rabbi and let him decide? Seemingly only in heavenly matters, but what counts as heavenly matters? That brings us back to the question of what "Da'at Torah" is.
What do you say?
Answer
Many thanks for the compliments, which I do not think I deserve. I did not understand the question.