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NEWS
Agudas Yisroel and Degel HaTorah Sign Bnei Brak Unity
Agreement
by Yated Ne'eman Staff
Agudas Yisroel and Degel HaTorah representatives signed a
unity agreement in Bnei Brak last week, bringing a dispute
over the selection of representatives in the upcoming
municipal elections to a happy ending. The UTJ-Agudas Yisroel-
Degel HaTorah mayoral candidate will be Rabbi Yissochor
Frankentahl and the candidate for first deputy mayor will be
Rabbi Yaakov Asher.
Last week's agreement brings to fruition an agreement between
Agudas Yisroel and Degel HaTorah signed before the previous
Bnei Brak municipal elections in 5755. It stipulates that
since Degel HaTorah representative Rabbi Mordechai Karelitz
held the office of mayor during the current term and Agudas
Yisroel representative Rabbi Moshe Betzalel Alter held the
post of primary deputy mayor, in the upcoming elections
Agudas Yisroel would nominate the mayoral candidate while
Degel HaTorah would select a candidate for first deputy
mayor. Since no other names were submitted to the Election
Authority and the municipality's Election Committee, mayoral
elections will not be held on election day, scheduled for 2
Cheshvan, and Rabbi Frankentahl will automatically become the
city's next mayor.
The Degel HaTorah-Agudas Yisroel city council list, whose
ballot slip will be marked with the letter "gimmel,"
is headed by Rabbi Frankentahl and Rabbi Asher. Below their
names the following candidates' will appear: Rabbi Yissochor
Dov Beigel, Rabbi Yisroel Moshe Friedman, Rabbi Meir Yehuda
Marmoshstein, Rabbi Nosson Tzvi Cohen, Rabbi Yaakov Cohen,
Rabbi Avrohom Rubinstein, Rabbi Chaim Dovid Rosner, Rabbi
Yaakov Virzhbinsky, Rabbi Shlomo Kostelitz, Rabbi Shlomo
Stern, Rabbi Meir Moscovitz, Rabbi Yehuda Haber, Rabbi
Avrohom Mordechai Traube, Rabbi Reuven Karlinsky, Rabbi Ze'ev
Kahane, Rabbi Mordechai Blau, Rabbi Osher Fine, Rabbi Dovid
Hershstein and Rabbi Yitzchok Bar. Closing the list are Rabbi
Mordechai Karelitz and former Bnei Brak mayor Rabbi Moshe
Irenstein.
Until now Degel HaTorah-Agudas Yisroel held 17 of the City
Council's 25 seats. Also running for election are Shas,
United Sephardic Bnei Torah, Mafdal, Likud and Labor. The
Labor Party currently has no representatives sitting on the
City Council. The other parties have between one and four
representatives.
Rabbi Frankentahl currently serves as mayor of Emanuel, a
chareidi town in Samaria, is known to have a wealth of
background at the municipal level and for his successes in
his previous posts as treasurer of the Elad Local Council,
and in particular for advancing the town of Emanuel during
the difficulties it has had to face in recent years. Rabbi
Asher serves as head of the Mayor's Office in Bnei Brak and
as first deputy mayor of Elad.
The agreement contains a declaration promising full
cooperation and harmony between both sides, which will work
together to keep Bnei Brak marching forward.
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