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UTJ Satisfied with Overall Election Results Despite some prominent disappointments — notably the loss of the mayoralty of Jerusalem — UTJ leaders were satisfied with their achievements throughout the country. Even in Jerusalem, the party itself garnered 25 percent more votes than in the previous election only 5 years ago.
The municipal elections in Jerusalem brought a painful and worrisome upset. The chareidi public lost the Mayor's Office when Nir Barkat won the post with a margin of 19,000 votes. The UTJ list for the city council again won the largest number of seats, making it the largest party on the city council. The vote grew by more than 10,000 votes, but it will now have only eight seats instead of nine because of the high overall voter turnout.
In the City of Bnei Brak the elections administrator and members of the Municipal Elections Committee met on Election Day to announce the election of Rabbi Asher as mayor and the 25 people on the Central Torah List as the 25 members of the new city council.
UTJ mobilized enormous support around the country on Election Day, as voters turned out in droves to sanction the Name of Heaven by casting their ballots for the United Torah Judaism list and working to promote the party, following calls by maranan verabonon, including Maran HaRav Eliashiv shlita, who even instructed yeshiva students to make every effort to increase the vote.
At the behest of gedolei Yisroel, including Maran HaRav Eliashiv shlita, Vaadat Rabbonim LeInyonei Chinuch will join forces with the Union of Yeshiva Managers to counter a provocative petition to block funding of talmudei Torah.
President Elect Barak Obama appointed Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-Illinois), who was born to Israeli emigrants, as White House Chief of Staff. After hesitations because of the strain the job would place on his family, Emanuel notified House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that he had decided to take on the job. He currently represents Illinois' 5th congressional district, which covers much of the north side of Chicago and parts of suburban Cook County.
Throughout the Jewish world, memorial events were held to
mark 70 years since the infamous pogrom known as
Kristallnacht, during which 91 Jews were killed, over 1,000
botei knesses were torched and 7,500 Jewish-owned
businesses were ransacked and looted. Some 30,000 Jewish men
and children were arrested on the night of the pogrom,
November 9-10, 1938, and sent to camps.
At its weekly cabinet meeting the government approved the
appointment of Tel Aviv-Jaffa Chief Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau as
head of the Yad Vashem Council in place of Yosef (Tommy)
Lapid, who passed away five months ago. Av, 5765 - Kislev 5766 (August-December 2005)
EARLIER EDITORIALS A Mission to Spread Daas Torah Looking for the Best in Yiddishkeit The Immorality of Palestinian Combatants and Noncombatants
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