Charedi politics has failed us. It’s time to take responsibility
 |
| Moti Leitner, chairman of the Haredi Public party, party members and supporters attend the launch of the party’s election campaign ahead of the upcoming Israeli general elections in Beit Shemesh, August 23, 2026 |
For far too long, the political leadership that claims to represent Israel’s Charedi community has forgotten what representation means.
It was ostensibly elected to protect the world of Torah and serve the needs of Charedi families. Instead, it has become part of the problem. At a moment of profound national crisis, when our community desperately needs responsible and effective leadership, the established Charedi parties have offered little more than detachment, excuses and confrontation.
The war that began with the horrific massacre of October 7 reminded every Israeli of the meaning of responsibility. Thousands of Charedim volunteered, enlisted, delivered supplies and supported families and soldiers.
Yet the established Charedi political leadership appeared to learn nothing.
At the very moment that Israelis were mourning soldiers killed in battle, a party leader danced to a song declaring that “we do not believe in the government of heretics.” This was more than an embarrassing mistake. It reflected a deeper political culture of detachment from both the needs of the Charedi public and the pain of the wider Israeli people.
Every criticism is answered with an accusation, and every difficult question is dismissed or ignored. Extremism is presented as authenticity; failure is repackaged as victimhood and the public is expected to accept that nothing can ever change.
Hundreds of thousands of Charedim refuse to accept it.
Over the past two years, my colleagues and I have traveled across Israel and listened. We met yeshiva students and kollel scholars, working mothers and fathers, educators, business owners, struggling teenagers and young people searching for their place. We spoke with Sephardim, Hasidim and Lithuanian Charedim, women and men.
Again and again, we heard the same message: the Charedi public wants hope, practical solutions and genuine change.
This is why we established HaTzibur HaCharedi, the Charedi Public Party.
Israel is approaching a dangerous confrontation between the Charedi community and the rest of society. This collision is not inevitable, nor is it a decree from Heaven. It is the result of years of political radicalization, neglect and failure.
The established parties allowed small and violent extremist factions to dictate the tone of Charedi politics. Separation became alienation, and legitimate efforts to protect Torah study were replaced by provocation, absolutism and political theater.
The consequences are now impossible to ignore. Tens of thousands of yeshiva students face the threat of arrest, while families are sinking deeper into poverty.
Relations with the rest of Israeli society have deteriorated dramatically.
Most importantly, they have offered no durable or credible solutions.
The current leadership blames everyone else, whether the attorney general, the courts, the media, or secular Israelis. Some of those institutions and other political forces certainly bear responsibility. However, honesty requires us to acknowledge that the Charedi parties have also failed, and failed completely.
Protecting Torah study requires more than slogans. Those whose Torah study is truly their full-time calling must be able to continue learning without interference. Those who are not genuinely engaged in full-time study should serve the country through appropriate military or national service frameworks.
With responsible leadership, Israel should be able to establish not merely one Charedi IDF brigade, but eventually an entire Charedi division, operating alongside a flourishing and expanding world of Torah.
These goals do not contradict one another; they can and should complement and strengthen one another.
Dignified employment
The same honesty is required when confronting poverty.
Poverty is not a Jewish value. Children should not go to sleep hungry. Parents should not have to move from one charitable fund to another simply to feed their families. A father or mother who wants to support a family with dignity must be given the opportunity to do so.
Even many Charedim who work remain below the poverty line because they were never provided with the basic tools needed to succeed in the modern economy.
That must change.
Charedi children should receive strong mathematics and English instruction alongside a serious Torah education. We must expand appropriate educational frameworks, professional training and employment opportunities. We must replace a politics that preserves dependency with policies that allow families to combine a Torah life with dignified employment and economic independence.
This will have a massively positive effect on the economic status of every single Israeli citizen, and help our country meet the economic challenges ahead.
If the established parties were capable of solving these problems, they would have done so already. The painful truth is that many of their leaders are either unable or unwilling to act.
At the same time, solutions cannot be imposed on the Charedi community by populist politicians who know little about our lives and seek to force their worldview upon us.
External coercion will fail, but internal denial will fail as well.
Durable solutions must grow from within the Charedi community, led by people who love Torah, understand Charedi life and have personally experienced the injustices and difficulties facing our families.
Most importantly, those solutions must then be advanced through serious dialogue and cooperation with the rest of Israeli society.
A strong Charedi community and a strong State of Israel are not competing objectives.
Each depends upon the other.
Hundreds of thousands of Charedim no longer feel represented by the existing parties. They are tired of being told what cannot be done. They are tired of slogans without solutions, excuses without action, and fear without leadership.
We will protect Torah study, create suitable pathways for service and contribution, fight poverty, expand opportunity and ensure representation for every part of the Charedi community, including Sephardim and Ashkenazim, Hasidim and Lithuanians.
Others offer an endless collision between the Charedi community and the rest of Israel. We offer responsibility.
For Torah. For our families. For the Charedi public. For the people of Israel in its entirety.
This time, we are taking responsibility.
https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/charedi-politics-has-failed-us-its-time-to-take-responsibility/