Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on March 11, 2015

A new commercial is part of the United Torah Judaism partys effort to reach out to secular voters. Photo from JTA

In anIsraeli campaign adreleased Monday, a secular Israeli husband and wife stress about housing prices, until a member of Knesset pops onto their iPhone screen, touting his partys economic policies and accomplishments.

Its a common trope in this campaign where voters top concern, according to polls, is Israels high cost of living.

The surprise? That ad, and others like it, came from United Torah Judaism, the Ashkenazi haredi Orthodox party. UTJ is backed by some of Israels most traditionalist haredi rabbis the same rabbis who vehemently discourage smartphone use and whose press organs airbrush women from photos.

UTJs polls usually rise and fall with its fiercely loyal haredi voter base. In 2013, the partywon a plurality of Jerusalems votedue to turnout in the citys haredi neighborhoods.

This year, the party is making a play for non-haredi votes complete with aFacebook page by emphasizing its progressive policies on issues like affordable housing andsubsidized daycare. Their slogan this campaign is socioeconomic legislation isnt a trend its a mitzvah!

That campaign, apparently, also allows the party to ease haredi restrictions on womens appearances and smartphone use.

UTJ includesno women candidatesin its slate, and leading haredi newspapers have famouslyairbrushed leaderslike Hillary Clinton andAngela Merkel from photos. But a woman albeit in a long skirt and long sleeves plays opposite a man in the partys ads.

Its even weirder that the ad features an iPhone. Less than a month ago, leading haredi Rabbi Yehuda Leib Shteinman,astrong UTJ supporter,declared that anyone using a smartphonecant be a kosher witnessin a rabbinical court a harsh restriction in the haredi world.

So, does anything go in an election campaign? UTJ spokesman Yaacov Isaac told JTA that the party has run ads like this for years, and theres nothing new.

See original here:

Women and smartphones in haredi ads? Relax, its an election campaign

Category: Ashkenazi
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