Thank you very much!
Waiting eagerly…

With God’s help, 24 Tevet 5780

To Simcha — greetings,

Regarding the legal or halakhic validity of a political commitment, see the discussion in column 219 concerning the remarks of the eminent Rabbi Ratzon Arusi about the binding force of a political commitment, to the point of disqualifying the fitness of one who violates it.

However, see the discussion in column 269 on the question of “normative duplication,” which may create conflicting value-based obligations. In the case at hand, on the one hand there is the commitment of the representatives of one party to go together with their partner, and on the other hand there is the commitment of the party’s representative to his voters to represent them in the governing institutions and to work to advance the values in which they believe. And it would seem that in the present case there is a contradiction between the two commitments.

Best regards, S. Tz.

I understand that the Rabbi is waiting until the affair is no longer current… in keeping with the finest philosophical traditions

Hello, S. Tz.!
I disagree with your second claim. A. The obligation not to break an agreement is not only toward Ben-Gvir himself but also toward his 84,000 voters, and their blood is no redder than Peretz’s public.
B. In my opinion, Rabbi Rafi’s obligation to his voters exists only when there is a Knesset. Once it was dissolved and he is asking for their trust again, he is supposed to present his wares and they are supposed to choose him and renew a new mutual commitment between them. Do you think that everyone who voted for him last time will vote for him again? Just as they are not obligated to him, so he is not obligated to them. Another way to put it is that perhaps he has an obligation toward them to run and allow them to choose him, but if he doesn’t pass the electoral threshold, the blame is on them for not choosing him, not on him.
C. I’m not at all sure that in the current situation, where he received such meager representation within the Yamina mix, he really advanced their values; perhaps in this move he only erased their possible representation in the future once and for all.
D. Isn’t keeping your word one of their banners? In this matter he betrayed the values of the public that chose him and advanced values (or lack of values) opposed to theirs.
E. Where is the confidence coming from that they would not have passed the electoral threshold—he and Ben-Gvir alone? Ben-Gvir is worth 84,000 votes by himself; that means Rabbi Rafi would have needed to bring only about another 50,000. And whichever way you look at it, if he isn’t worth that, then there is hardly any public standing behind him, and we return to my first argument that certainly his obligation toward Ben-Gvir’s 84,000 voters overrides. And if he does have that support, then they would have passed the threshold, and the representation of his voters and their political power would have been much greater than what they will have in the Yamina party.
I’m sure there are more arguments that can be raised on this matter; I brought up what came to mind at the moment.
Good night!

With God’s help, 25 Tevet 5780

The joint run of the Jewish Home + National Union + Otzma Yehudit yielded 5 seats in the 21st Knesset. It is obvious that giving up one side of the triangle meant the near certainty of not passing the electoral threshold.

The agreement between the Jewish Home and Otzma Yehudit received its force only on the night it was approved by the Jewish Home central committee, and its approval by the committee presumably stemmed from the knowledge that they had already reached the brink of signing an agreement with the National Union, and that this agreement was about to be closed immediately after the committee convened.

For reasons that are unclear, the chairman of the National Union decided after the Jewish Home central committee convened that he was “closing” with the New Right, and he left the Jewish Home no choice but to join in order to receive some representation, or to go with Otzma Yehudit into oblivion.

Had Rabbi Peretz realized earlier that his duty was to leave Ben-Gvir and join the National Union and the New Right, as advised by MK Moti Yogev and other party veterans, it would have been possible to pressure Bennett not to push Moti Yogev into the 11th spot, something that was no longer feasible an hour before the lists closed.

Politics is the “art of the possible,” and that is the framework within which people act. The purpose of running in elections is to win as many seats as possible and thereby strengthen the power of Religious Zionism and the right-wing bloc; votes must not be lost on an adventure that will not pass the electoral threshold.

Best regards, S. Tz.