Shas
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Shas
ש״ס |
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|---|---|
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| Leader |
Nissim Ze'ev (1982-1984) Yitzhak Peretz Eli Yishai Aryeh Deri Ariel Atias |
| Chairman | Aryeh Deri |
| Founded | 1984 |
| Headquarters | Jerusalem |
| Ideology |
Religious conservatism Populism Mixed economy Mizrahi Ultra-Orthodox interests |
| Political position | Socially Right-wing Economically Centre-left to Left-wing |
| Religion | Torah Judaism |
| International affiliation | World Zionist Organization |
| Colours | Azure, white |
| Knesset |
7 / 120
|
| Most MKs | 17 (1999) |
| Election symbol | |
| שס | |
| Website | |
| shas |
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Shas (Hebrew: ש״ס, an acronym for שומרי ספרד Shomrei Sfarad, lit. "(Religious) Guardians of the Sephardim") is an ultra-Orthodox religious political party in Israel. Founded in 1984 under the leadership of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a former Israeli Sephardi chief rabbi, who remained its spiritual leader until his death in October 2013, it primarily represents the interests of Haredi Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews.
Originally a small ethnic political group, Shas is currently Israel's seventh largest party in the Knesset. Since 1984, it has almost always formed a part of the governing coalition, whether the ruling party was Labor or Likud. As of 2015, Shas members currently sit with Likud in the government.
Shas was founded in 1984 prior to the elections to the eleventh Knesset in the same year, in protest over the small representation of Sephardim in the largely Ashkenazi Agudat Yisrael, through the merger of regional lists established in 1983. It was originally known as Worldwide Sephardic Association of Torah Guardians (Hebrew: התאחדות הספרדים העולמית שומרי תורה, Hitahdut ha-Sfaradim ha-Olamit Shomrey Tora). The party was formed under the leadership of former Israeli Chief Sephardi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who established a four-member (including himself) Council of Torah Sages and remained the party's spiritual leader until his death. In founding the party, Yosef received strategic help and guidance from Rabbi Elazar Shach, leader of Israel's non-Hasidic Haredi Ashkenazi Jews. Yosef founded the party in 1984 on the platform of a return to religion and as a counter to an establishment dominated by Ashkenazi Jews of European extraction.
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