Religious Left raises its head: ‘This isn’t the religious Zionism I was raised in’

ELHANAN MILLER attended an Israeli conference of disparate groups from the Religious Left who were urged to take small actions to draw them out of their comfort zone.

If there is one sector that seemed utterly defeated following the recent Israeli elections, it is the religious Left. But over 600 Israelis gathered in a Jerusalem conference hall this week to demonstrate that even without parliamentary representation, their ideology is still alive and kicking.

Spanning the gamut from ultra-Orthodox to Mizrahi traditionalists, representatives of civil society came to Heichal Shlomo – the former seat of Israel’s Chief Rabbinate – to protest government policies that curtail women’s rights, champion the occupation of the Palestinian Territories, and appropriate Jewish language to promote suppression of civil liberties.

The keynote speaker was Israel Prize laureate Adina Bar Shalom, the eldest daughter of Rabbi Ovadia Yossef, who died in 2013. The former Sephardi Chief Rabbi was the engine behind the establishment of Shas, an Ultra-Orthodox party whose current leader Aryeh Deri is considered Benjamin Netanyahu’s closest political ally.

“Ultra-Orthodox society, which I belong to, is changing,” Bar Shalom told the audience. “Extreme statements, support for discriminatory policies, and racism have lifted their head and have become commonplace.

“Rabbi Ovadia Yossef ruled that it was permitted to forego parts of the Land of Israel for Peace,” she added. “Today, no one dares utter the word ‘peace’.”

Clearly, the organisers of the Religious Left conference were attempting to broaden the scope of “the camp” beyond the typical Ashkenazi, often Western-immigrant demographic which made up a large proportion of the attendees. The line-up of speakers at the opening plenary included three Haredi representatives and five women.