Degel HaTorah () is an
Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...
Haredi
Haredi Judaism (, ) is a branch of Orthodox Judaism that is characterized by its strict interpretation of religious sources and its accepted (Jewish law) and traditions, in opposition to more accommodating values and practices. Its members are ...
political party
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...
in
Israel
Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
. For much of its existence, it has been allied with
Agudat Yisrael
Agudat Yisrael (; Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Agudas Yisroel'') is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jewish political party in Israel. It began as a political party representing Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews in Poland, originating in the Agudath Israel movement ...
, under the name
United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism (, ''Yahadut HaTora'') is a Haredi, religious conservative political alliance in Israel. The alliance, consisting of Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah, was first formed in 1992, in order to maximize Ashkenazi Haredi repr ...
.
History
Degel HaTorah was founded in 1988, as a splinter from Agudat Israel. Its establishment by Rabbi
Elazar Shach
Elazar Menachem Man Shach (, Elazar Shach; January 1, 1899 O.S. – November 2, 2001) was a Haredi rabbi who headed Lithuanian Orthodox Jews in Israel and around the world from the early 1970s until his death. He served as chair of the Counc ...
was due to ongoing policy disputes with the
Hasidic
Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...
rabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
s within Agudat Yisrael. In the
1988 elections, the party won two seats, taken by
Avraham Ravitz and
Moshe Gafni, and joined
Yitzhak Shamir
Yitzhak Shamir (, ; born Yitzhak Yezernitsky; October 22, 1915 – June 30, 2012) was an Israeli politician and the seventh prime minister of Israel, serving two terms (1983–1984, 1986–1992). Before the establishment of the State of Israel, ...
's coalition government. For the
1992 elections, the party allied itself with Agudat Yisrael, under the name
United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism (, ''Yahadut HaTora'') is a Haredi, religious conservative political alliance in Israel. The alliance, consisting of Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah, was first formed in 1992, in order to maximize Ashkenazi Haredi repr ...
.
Although the party split shortly before the
1996 elections, they re-united for the elections. This was repeated for the
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
,
2006
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...
, and
2009 elections.
Currently (2022), the party has three
MKs (of the seven representing United Torah Judaism):
Moshe Gafni,
Uri Maklev, and
Ya'akov Asher.
Ideology
Degel HaTorah represents the "
Lithuanian wing" of the non-Hasidic Haredim (known as "
Mitnagdim
''Misnagdim'' (, "Opponents"; Sephardi pronunciation: ''Mitnagdim''; singular ''misnaged / mitnaged'') was a religious movement among the Jews of Eastern Europe which resisted the rise of Hasidism in the 18th and 19th centuries. The ''Misn ...
"), as opposed to the
Hasidic
Hasidism () or Hasidic Judaism is a religious movement within Judaism that arose in the 18th century as a spiritual revival movement in contemporary Western Ukraine before spreading rapidly throughout Eastern Europe. Today, most of those aff ...
-dominated
Agudat Yisrael
Agudat Yisrael (; Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Agudas Yisroel'') is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jewish political party in Israel. It began as a political party representing Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews in Poland, originating in the Agudath Israel movement ...
party. Sometimes, the parties compete against each other; at other times, they join forces within a political alliance called
United Torah Judaism
United Torah Judaism (, ''Yahadut HaTora'') is a Haredi, religious conservative political alliance in Israel. The alliance, consisting of Agudat Yisrael and Degel HaTorah, was first formed in 1992, in order to maximize Ashkenazi Haredi repr ...
(UTJ) (''Yahadut HaTorah'' in Hebrew).
In Jerusalem, it was based on a long-standing argument against a 1989 agreement between Degel HaTorah's then-spiritual leader Rabbi
Elazar Shach
Elazar Menachem Man Shach (, Elazar Shach; January 1, 1899 O.S. – November 2, 2001) was a Haredi rabbi who headed Lithuanian Orthodox Jews in Israel and around the world from the early 1970s until his death. He served as chair of the Counc ...
, the venerated
Rosh yeshiva
Rosh yeshiva or Rosh Hayeshiva (, plural, pl. , '; Anglicized pl. ''rosh yeshivas'') is the title given to the dean of a yeshiva, a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and th ...
of the famed
Ponevezh Yeshiva in
Bnei Brak
Bnei Brak ( ) or Bene Beraq, is a city located on the central Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean Israeli coastal plain, coastal plain in Israel, just east of Tel Aviv. A center of Haredi Judaism, Bnei Brak covers an area of 709 hectares (1,752 acre ...
, and the spiritual leader of Agudat Yisrael, the
Pnei Menachem of
Gur, Rabbi Pinchas Menachem Alter. The deal, based on the demographics of the time, stated that when UTJ would join forces, Aguda would receive 60% of the seats, and Degel 40%. This agreement was first contested in May 2016, when Degel's
Knesset
The Knesset ( , ) is the Unicameralism, unicameral legislature of Israel.
The Knesset passes all laws, elects the President of Israel, president and Prime Minister of Israel, prime minister, approves the Cabinet of Israel, cabinet, and supe ...
leader
Moshe Gafni demanded that then-Deputy Education Minister
Meir Porush resign from the Knesset, in order to give Degel 3 out of the 6 seats held by UTJ. Porush was able to keep his ministerial position under the 2015 so-called
Norwegian Law. In 2018, Degel reached a 50-50 agreement with Aguda, with an Aguda representative as the Chairman of the party.

Degel HaTorah's
rabbi
A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...
nical arbiter ("
posek
In Jewish law, a ''posek'' ( , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the application of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah, in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are incon ...
") was, until his death in 2012,
centenarian
A centenarian is a person who has reached the age of 100. Because life expectancies at birth worldwide are well below 100, the term is invariably associated with longevity. The United Nations estimated that there were 316,600 living centenarian ...
Rabbi
Yosef Shalom Eliashiv of
Jerusalem
Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
. Rabbi Eliashiv served as one of two Chairmen of Degel HaTorah's
Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah ("Council of Torah Sages"). After Rabbi Eliyashiv's death, Rabbi
Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman
Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman (), also Shtainman or Steinman (November 3, 1914 – December 12, 2017), was a Haredi Judaism, Haredi rabbi in Bnei Brak, Israel. Following the death of Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, Yosef Shalom Elyashiv in 2012, he wa ...
led the party; after him, by Rabbi
Chaim Kanievsky and Rabbi
Gershon Edelstein.
Election results
See also
*
Hasidim and Mitnagdim
*
Agudat Yisrael
Agudat Yisrael (; Ashkenazi Hebrew: ''Agudas Yisroel'') is a Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jewish political party in Israel. It began as a political party representing Haredi Judaism, Haredi Jews in Poland, originating in the Agudath Israel movement ...
References
External links
Party historyKnesset
{{Authority control
1988 establishments in Israel
Ashkenazi Jewish culture in Israel
Haredi Judaism in Israel
Orthodox Jewish political parties
Political parties established in 1988
Political parties in Israel
Conservative parties in Israel
Social conservative parties
Rabai Shech
Words and phrases in Modern Hebrew