Opinion & Comment
Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky for Mayor of Yerushalayim

It is no secret that Rabbi Uri Lupoliansky, UTJ candidate for mayor of Jerusalem, is chareidi. For some, like us, this is a point in his favor. For others this may not count in his favor. But whatever you think about his religion, it is not necessarily the main reason that he is the best man to run Jerusalem.

Of all the candidates, Rabbi Lupoliansky has the best credentials for the job. He has served with distinction for 14 years on the city council, most of them as a full-time deputy mayor. As the leader of the largest party on the city council, he was naturally involved in a wide range of the city's affairs. In addition, he was directly in charge of the welfare department, and in recent years the planning and construction department.

Rabbi Lupoliansky is well-known as the founder of Yad Sarah, the nationwide volunteer network that provides services every year to the country that are worth some $300 million if valued according to commercial criteria. It is a huge operation that was started by Rabbi Lupoliansky with a few vaporizers in his living room, but now has an annual budget of $12 million, and not a penny from the Israeli government. It helps 325,000 people a year with a paid staff of only 150 -- and 6,000 volunteers.

Yad Sarah helps and worries about everyone, and has been recognized internationally for its work. The Israeli government awarded it the Israel Prize in 1994 for its unique contribution "to the Society and the State." The prize committee specifically cited its great impact on Israeli life and the fact that it is completely non-sectarian and non- discriminatory in providing help to all who need it.

Perhaps even more interesting for someone who would be mayor of a major city is the fact that Rabbi Lupoliansky was awarded the Kaplan Prize for Effective Management by the Israeli Management Institute in recognition of the fact that he had built a well-run organization that makes a major contribution to the Israeli economy.

Rabbi Lupoliansky is thus the only candidate who has demonstrated the ability to effectively run a large organization with a big budget. As head of Yad Sarah and in his work in the city government, he has shown clearly that he is a man who has broad vision that encompasses all parts of the population, even in a city as vast and as diversified as Jerusalem.

His Torah background gives him strengths whose appeal is universal. It certainly contributes to his pleasant demeanor and well-known honesty. Sometimes religious people are afraid to support a religious candidate for public office since they fear that his administration will do or allow things that will reflect badly on the entire religious community. In R' Uri's case everyone is confident that, be'eizer Hashem, as he has done so far in all his endeavors, if elected mayor he will produce a very generous kiddush Hashem.

We think that all Jerusalem will be much the better if he is elected this 3 Sivan -- June 3.

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