Agudat Israel
|
Agudat Yisrael
אגודת ישראל |
|
|---|---|
| Leader |
Ya'akov Litzman Yitzhak-Meir Levin Yehuda Meir Abramowicz Avraham Yosef Shapira Menachem Porush |
| Founded | 1912 |
| Newspaper | Hamodia |
| Ideology |
Torah, Torah Judaism, Haredi Judaism, Ashkenazi Haredim interests, Orthodox Halacha, Religious conservatism |
| Alliances |
United Religious Front (1949–51) Religious Torah Front (1955–60, 1973–77) United Torah Judaism (current) |
| Most MKs | 5 (1988) |
| Fewest MKs | 2 (1984) |
| Current MKs | 4 (Since 2013 Knesset Elections, as part of UTJ) |
| Election symbol | |
| ג | |
Agudat Yisrael (Hebrew: אגודת ישראל, lit. Union of Israel, also transliterated Agudath Israel, or Agudas Yisroel) began as a political party representing orthodox Jews in Poland, originating in the Agudath Israel movement in Upper Silesia. It later became the Party of the Haredi population of Israel. It was the umbrella party for almost all Haredi Jews in Israel until the 1980s, as it had been during the British Mandate of Palestine.
Since the 1980s, it has become a predominately Hasidic party, though it often combines with the Degel Hatorah non-Hasidic party for elections and coalition-forming. When so combined, they are known together as United Torah Judasim.
When political Zionism began to emerge in the 1890s and recruit supporters in Europe and America, it was opposed by many Orthodox Jews, who believed the Jewish state would emerge from divine intervention.World Agudath Israel was founded in Kattowitz, German Empire, (now Katowice, Poland) in 1912, with the purpose of providing an umbrella organization for observant Jews who opposed the Zionist movement.
In Palestine, Agudat Yisrael was established as a branch of this movement, to provide opposition to the organized Jewish community (the "Yishuv"). One of its most authoritative spokesmen against the formation of a Jewish State, the Dutch poet Jacob Israël de Haan, was assassinated by the Haganah in 1924. In the wake of the Holocaust, anti-Zionist rabbis who led Agudat Israel recognized the great utility of a Jewish state, and it became non-Zionist, rather than anti-Zionist. It did not actively participate in the creation of Israel, but it ceased its opposition. In 1933, it entered into an agreement with the Jewish Agency in Palestine, according to which Agudat Yisrael would receive 6.5% of the immigration permits. Eventually, at the eve of the Israeli Declaration of Independence (1948), Agudat Yisrael yielded to pressure from the Zionist movement and has been a participant in most governments since that time. The movement realized the benefits of more active participation in politics over time and agreed to become a coalition partner in several Israeli governments. However, its original reservations about a secular government influenced its decision to refuse cabinet positions.
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