It was a video that spread like wildfire on Israeli haredi corners of the Internet – ironically since it’s a video featuring haredi rabbis who don’t want their flock exposed to the Internet.
On November 30, Communications Minister Yoaz Hendel (New Hope) sat in his office, across from senior rabbis from the hassidic, Lithuanian and Sephardi haredi communities, such as the Vizhnitzer Rebbe, Mir Yeshiva head Rabbi Eliezer Yehuda Finkel (II), Shas Torah Sages Council member Rabbi Reuven Elbaz, Yeshivat Porat Yosef head Rabbi Moshe Tzedaka and others.
The first thing that may strike someone familiar with meetings between politicians and haredi rabbis is how different this scene looks from the usual scenario, in which the politicians make their way to the home courts of the rabbis. They sit at the rabbis’ tables, with floor-to-ceiling cases of holy books covering the walls of the room. They wear a black kippah and show deference.
Instead, Hendel was at the head of the table, and the rabbis were his guests at the Communications Ministry. In addition, Hendel is an observant Jew, who keeps Shabbat and kosher but chooses not to wear a kippah on weekdays, and in his meeting with the rabbis, he was bareheaded as usual.
And rather than ask the rabbis for their advice or their blessing, Hendel addressed them like equals.
