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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Here
two religious parties, the UTJ, with its ballot letter gimmel, and the NRP,
letter bet, claim the support of the same Sephardic rabbi. |
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The National Religious
Party’s slogan: putting the soul in Israel. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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?” |
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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. |
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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. |
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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.” |
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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. |