Messages from the Yahad Party

Rav Mazuz at a Yahad rally:

שם הפתק- קץ. 'בשעה שהרי ישראל נושאים פירות- אין לך קץ מגולה מזה. לעמי ישראל כי קרבו לבא'.

My translation:

The name on the ballot is "Ketz". [Paraphrasing the gemara Sanhedrin 98a:] "When the mountains of Israel carry fruits, there is no more revealing Ketz than this, [as it says (Yehezkel 36:8) But ye, O mountains of Israel, ye shall shoot forth your branches, and yield your fruit] to My people Israel; for they are at hand to come."

From their official English-language sign-up page:

Join the party "Yahad": "Together – the right according to the Torah"

The developments of Israeli politics have unexpectedly created a situation that led MPs Eli Ishai and Yoni Chetboun to found a new party, devoted to unite the people of Israel. In the ever moving Israeli political situation, this is nothing like an ordinary event.

From its beginning, the political history of the State of Israel has been characterized by sectarian conflicts and rifts, aftermaths of the gratuitous hatred that caused so long and painful an exile to our people, far from the heart of the nation, our Jerusalem for eternity.

Today, the devotedness to the cause of the Jewish state that appears in all sectors, the rally of unity that always gathers the nation in difficult times, and especially in times of war, show that the long process of teshuvah on gratuitous hatred has led our people to a state of maturity, which now allows it to open a new page of its history. For the first time, a real connection can be made between the different currents and trends, which have so far ignored one other.

The last government was characterized by sharp conflicts between seculars and religious, on many issues: coercion to enlist yeshiva students in the army, the law on conversions, the law on surrogacy, which stipulated that a same-sex couple could legally raise children, and the law on the Jewish identity of our state, which ultimately led to the fall of the government.

The foundation of a new party, which has set itself to repair the torn tissue as its raison d'être, and which aims to establish an effective cooperation between the different religious and traditionalist currents, while keeping a total fidelity to our holy Torah, to our Land and to our people as its highest goal, is liable to safeguard our national resurrection as a whole. The gathering of various publics under the slogan "black kippah, knitted kippah or kippah in the pocket", which takes place today after 70 years of State of Israel, is an opportunity that we are forbidden to miss. We, who support "Together – the right according to the Torah", invite you to gather under this flag.

You too, join the party "Together", a religious united front for the integrity of the Land, for a real consideration to the disadvantaged, for the development and prosperity of the State of Israel in the way of the Torah, and for the fulfilment of the ultimate hope of all generations for the full Deliverance.

The party "Together" received the blessing of the Rosh Yeshiva of "Kisseh Rahamim", Maran Hagaon Harav Meir Mazuz shelita, and of other rabbis.

From Eli Yishai's website's homepage:

דבר התנועה
כבר יותר מאלפיים שנות גלות חלפו מאז ליחכו זרועות האש את בית מקדשנו בעוון שנאת חינם, זוהי השנאה שהפרידה בין איש לאיש בין משפחה לשבט, שהמיטה עלינו אלפי שנות שכול דם ואבל.

אור הגאולה כבר נצנץ הגלויות כבר התקבצו, ואנחנו כאן שוב יחד, אשכנזים לצד ספרדים תימנים לצד אתיופים, זהו אנחנו כבר כאן אז השנאה לא מיותרת?! ההפרדה בין עדה או מוצא, בין כיפה שחורה לסרוגה, על מה ולמה?!

כשהאויבים מבחוץ לוטשים עלינו עיניים, הם לא מבדילים בין דתי לחילוני, בין מסורתי לחרדי, את דמנו הם דורשים על היותנו יהודים מאמינים באל אחד וכבניו אהוביו.

אם עד היום חשבנו שזה בלתי אפשרי תנועת יחד היא בשורת הגאולה, לראשונה כבית אחד לכל עם ישראל ללא הבדל בין מוצא או עדה, בין שחורה לסרוגה, כולנו יחד מאמינים בבורא עולם, אוהבים את התורה, את עמנו הנפלא, ונשמור בכל משמר על ארצנו היקרה שנתנה לאבותינו אברהם יצחק יעקב.

אחים ואחיות יקרים, בואו וניתן הזדמנות לאחדות בעם ישראל, בואו נהיה שותפים לשבור את המחיצות המבדילות ביננו.

ב-18 למרץ זה יהיה המבחן של העם היהודי, האם הוא בוחר לשמור את הטינה והשנאה, או לצחצח את הלב ולזעוק את הבשורה כולנו עם אחד, יחיד מיוחד, ומאוחד נגד כל אויבנו.

My translation:

Message of the Movement

Already more than 2000 years of exile have passed since the arms of fire have singed our Beit Hamikdash due to the sin of baseless hatred - this is the hatred that separates between man and his fellow man, between a family and a tribe, that brought upon us thousands of years of bereavement, blood, and mourning.

The light of Redemption is already peeking through, the exiles have already been gathered in, and we are again together - Ashkenazim next to Sepharadim, Teimanim next to Ethiopians - that is who we are already here, so isn't hatred superfluous?! The separation between a community or ethnicity, between a black Kippa and a Kippa Seruga - for what reason and why?!

When the enemies on the outside sharpen their eyes against us, they make no distinction between a religious Jew and a secular Jew, between a traditional Jew and a Haredi Jew - they just want our blood for our being believing Jews in one G-d and as His loving children.

If until now we thought that it was impossible, the Yahad Movement is the heralding of the Redemption - for the first time as one home for all of Am Yisrael without distinction between ethnicity or community, between black Kippa and Kippa Seruga, we are all together [Yahad] believing in the Creator of the world, loving Torah, our wonderful nation, and we will guard with every watch over our dear land that was given to our forefathers - Avraham, Yitzhak, and Yaakov.

Dear brothers and sisters, come and give a chance to unity in Am Yisrael. Come, let's be partners to break down the barriers that separate between us.

On March 18th, this will be the test of the Jewish nation: will he choose to keep the resentment and hate or will he polish the heart and cry out the news that we are all one nation - special and unique - and unified against all our enemies?