Two days after Shas Party leader Aryeh Deri’s well-publicized resignation from the Knesset on Dec. 30, Yated Ne’eman, the newspaper of the Lithuanian faction of the ultra-Orthodox community, published a rather unconventional headline: “Deep Concern in the Ultra-Orthodox Community: Rabbi Aryeh Deri Resigns from the Knesset.” The article quotes the senior Ashkenazi (of East European origin) ultra-Orthodox politicians, who called on Deri to take back his resignation, claiming that it endangered the ultra-Orthodox community at large. “Our utmost commitment, certainly now, is not only to ensure that ultra-Orthodox representation in the Knesset suffers no harm, but also to strengthen it,” the chairman of Degel HaTorah (one faction out of two composing the Yahadut HaTora Party), Knesset member Moshe Gafni, was quoted as saying in a phone call to Deri. In that same conversation, he asked him not “to take any irrevocable steps.”
According to the same report, Knesset member Yaakov Litzman was also concerned. The piece described how he called on his good friend Aryeh Deri to show responsibility toward the public and forego his intention to resign, “to prevent the entire ship from sinking, God forbid.” The article in Yated Ne’eman was surprising since ultra-Orthodox papers aligned with the Lithuanian faction had until then avoided commenting on the crisis in Shas and Deri’s resignation. Then suddenly, a headline implied support for Deri in his struggle with former Shas head Eli Yishai — a struggle that threatens to splinter Shas.
