These are days of splits and omissions and unification and rejection for the religious-ultra-Orthodox camp. The main motive for the political tsunami is selfish -- chasing after power and respect and control of the party and faction, because nothing is final yet. Shas leader Aryeh Deri pushed out former party head Eli Yishai and, appearing on "Meet the Press" with Rina Matzliach on Saturday evening, called on Yishai to ask forgiveness at the grave of the late Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef. It looks like the rift is permanent; chances are it will continue, but nothing is certain. If when the party lists are submitted to the Central Elections Committee, the polls indicating that both factions could be tripped up by the high electoral threshold are proved true, the two will draw on the magic power of the word "maran" ["our master," referring to Rabbi Yosef] and everything will go back to its proper place. It's better for Deri to enter the Knesset with Yishai than it is for him to remain out in the cold. The same is true for the other side of the Orthodox world: the fate of Habayit Hayehudi. Party leader Naftali Bennett is skipping over a couple of clauses. He wants MK Uri Ariel to stay in the party, but likes to imagine that it would be nice if Ariel were to leave. Bennett wants to attract nonobservant voters to his party, so Zionist activist Dani Dayan, who scrapped with Bennett on the Yesha Council, will run in the party primaries, as will a pro-Israel Muslim woman who supports the "Jewish state" bill. The place of Ariel's people on the party list determines whether he will stay or go. MK Yoni Chetboun has already left, throwing his lot in with Yishai. He received Bennett's blessing. An in-depth look at what is happening in this camp shows strategic gaps in the religious-haredi camp's worldview. Chetboun, a Zionist and proud supporter of the Israel Defense Forces, could find himself with Yishai because there are religious Zionists who are closer to the nationalist haredi sector (known as "hardalnikim"), and there are some haredim who want to emulate the national religious model -- the soldier and commander who is integrated into the mainstream in Israel. They are the destiny of Habayit Hayehudi. Bennett's desire to approach the secular but traditional voters expresses a fundamental change among young religious Zionists, who aren't afraid of contact with women or to command training exercises in the military. Chetboun wants to be more religious and Yishai wants to be more Zionist and Bennett wants to be more "traditional," and some of the more secular want to embrace tradition. This is the real change behind the gossip: Who will run with whom.
