Rav Dovid Chai Hakohen

Senior Religious-Zionist Rabbi Explains Why He Left Bayit Yehudi and Joined Yahadut hatorah

Rav Dovid Chai Hakohen, a senior Rav in the Religious-Zionist world, released a letter on Tuesday, explaining for the first time why he left the Religious-Zionist party Bayit Yehudi for the Chareidi party of UTJ, according to a Kikar HaShabbat report.

“All of Eretz Yisrael’s significance is in the merit of the Torah which made it kodesh and the shechina of Hashem which dwells in it,” R’ Hacohen added. “How is it conceivable to decrease the crown of Torah from Yisrael in order to acquire an additional mandate in the elections?”

“Despite my attempts to halt the process before it was too late, I didn’t succeed and I was forced to choose the difficult path which is the way of emes, for the sake of Hashem, whose seal is emes. I announced my departure from Bayit Yehudi to join those for whom the Torah of Hashem is more valuable than anything else. We chose to join UTJ.”

“Following discussions, we reached the conclusion that together we will work toward establishing the honor of the Torah, preserving the Chief Rabbinate, [protecting] the honor of Eretz Yisrael from being desecrated by chillul Shabbos, [protecting] the kedusha of the IDF from being harmed by mixed-groups of males and females, and of course [protecting] Eretz Yisrael – that not one of its holy parts should be handed over to haters of Israel.” YWN