Jewish religious groups in Israel have a complicated history and structure. Eliezer Segal's webpage at the University of Calgary gives an outline.

The religiously-oriented parties that won seats in May 1999 were:

n Shas, representing Sephardic jewry (431,000 votes, 17 seats), whose posters have their own webpage here,

n United Torah Judaism (126,000 votes, 5 seats) representing the strictly religious Ashkenazi, or European, jewry, and

n the National Religious Party (140,000 votes, 5 seats) for the less strictly orthodox.

Many of their posters are influenced by the tradition of pashkevilim, the printed notices that have been put up in public places of the orthodox communities, for many decades or perhaps for centuries. These are a major way that the community stay in mutual contact, given that television and sometimes radio are banned. They give moral advice, notify the community of a death, condemn errant members, or most recently they deal in politics.

The combination of a highly literate community and the proscription of electronic media seems rare in the world today. The pashkevilim record the history of religious districts but they seem to have been unstudied. I could find no books on them, and no indication that anyone is saving them.

First are some examples of the non-political variety.

	Don’t bring computers into your house. If you must use them, leave them in the workplace. They carry demonic games, and new inventions even allow them to transmit television. Several rabbis sign it.
	The walls are open to anyone in principle, although the community will notice who is putting the posters up and may respond accordingly. Here some individual or group declares that 100 million wigs are made yearly in Israel, and who must be wearing them? Non-jews and prostitutes!! It’s not clear what the remedy is.
	A last example of a non-political pashkevil. On the right is [will be] a poster that goes up recurrently. A long list of rabbinic leaders, including many who are now dead, urge the reader to acquire a well-known book against gossip, the evil tongue.

			Like the pashkevilim, many of the religious posters are wordy, with more than a single slogan. They are not meant to be glanced at from a passing car. Here a group of rabbinic students berates the more moderate National Religious Party, or Mafdal, for its support of Netanyahu’s peace process. The NRP claims to be “at your right” meaning supporting you, but it is really “at your left,” taken over by gray leftist activists. “Only not Mafdal,” it says, varying a catchphrase discussed on my Netanyahu page. Other examples of wordy postures are on the Shas page.
			The United Torah Judaism party argues for the protection of the children’s religious upbringing. The young boy holds a recorder, or challil, which perhaps symbolizes the innocent enjoyment of Jewish culture.
Here two religious parties, the UTJ, with its ballot letter gimmel, and the NRP, letter bet, claim the support of the same Sephardic rabbi.
The National Religious Party’s slogan: putting the soul in Israel.
	A play on the slogan: Mafdal has sold its soul to the left. Israel’s election laws forbid parties that endorse violence or reject democracy or the existence of the state of Israel. Meir Kahane’s group was accordingly banned, but his supporters in the group Kof put up this anti-NRP poster.
			The NRP suffered a split before the 1999 elections, with several important members, notably Bennie Begin, son of the former prime minister, forming their own party, the National Unity Party. The new group was more hawkish and had weaker religious credentials. This poster, my favorite of all the ones I collected, says, “The woven yarmulka has only one head.” The colorful woven yarmulka, as opposed to the black leather or cloth model, symbolizes moderately orthodox jewry. The poster is calling for unity under their leadership.
				Here the message is put less gracefully, as an explicit attack. Showing a sinister picture of one of the defectors, it asks: “Who will care for the religious education of your children, Gandy?”
				The most liberal religious party is Meimad, and it joined with Barak’s One Israel. The symbolism is young people pulling together. Some have yarmulkes (set jauntily to the side, not the way the ultraorthodox would wear them), some are bareheaded, one is female.

The “ultraorthodox” UTJ’s ballot letter appeared on many railings and windows. Like Shas’s posters it stayed up long after the election, supporters using it as a way to say who they are. In a TV ad the letter was animated and bowed down in devotion.
			Meretz, a party promoting secularity, ran under the slogan “To be free in our land.” The line is taken from the national anthem, and in Meretz’ use has the connotation of free from the rule of religion. The UTJ adapted it: “To be a believing Jew in our land.”

Members from the UTJ do not accept cabinet positions, in order to stay untainted by the secular actions of the government. However Meir Porush, its leader, had held the post of Deputy Minister for housing under Netanyahu. Both the ultraorthodox jews and Israel’s Arabs tend to have large families and so have a special interest in housing policy. He made an appeal to Arab voters, with the slogan, “Word of honour.” The symbolism of the postage stamp is unclear, perhaps a suggestion his governmental position on internal matters.