The convention, taking place in Hotel Nir Etzion, was organized by the local government center and opened with a vosikin minyan, additional minyanim and then followed by a Daf Yomi shiur delivered by HaRav Yisroel Moshe Friedman, director of Toda'a, which organizes hundreds of daily shiurim throughout the country. The convention brings together elected representatives of the chareidi community from all over Israel.
The first day of the conference closed with a special meeting dealing with the housing shortage problem, as well as the public health shortages, which was led by Rabbi Simcha Shtitzberg, member of the Maccabee Health Service, member of Assuta Hospital directors , as well as member of the Bnei Brak municipality. He opened his talk by praising the Deputy Health Minister, Rabbi Yaakov Litzman, and noting the high esteem in which he is held by all the levels of Israeli society. He mentioned Rabbi Litzman's blessed activity within the Health Ministry, noting how before he entered office, the ministry was neglected and almost inconsequential, while it is now one of the most active and forward-looking departments in the country. Responsible for this transformation, he said, is none other than Rabbi Litzman.
Head of the Knesset Finance Committee, Rabbi Moshe Gafni, spoke very emphatically about burning issues related to the chareidi community which are especially relevant in this pre-election term. He called upon our public to make every effort for the success of our representation in the coming elections, in view of the opposition being so blatantly anti-chareidi.
He summed up his address with an overview of the chareidi performance in this past Knesset term. "I have been in the Knesset for the past 24 years, and this past term has been the most fruitful for the chareidi public, including in budget allocations.
"This is the first term where United Torah Jewry has operated in full cooperation. Shas can truly envy us. Chairman Rabbi Litzman took over the Health Ministry which was stagnating, with no one there daring to lift a finger to make any innovations, but he shook things up and made reforms in many areas, not always succeeding, but hopefully, he will push them through in his next term. I hear his praises sung everywhere I go, and I am not saying this just because it is right before elections. For example, when his reform in dental service was under attack that he only cared for the chareidi community, he counterattacked with the apt rebuttal that he wasn't aware that the secular public didn't have any teeth!"
