On Monday evening, former Shas leader Aryeh Deri put an end to the shortest play in Israeli political history. The man who resigned from the Knesset and from the Shas leadership and said in anguish "It is hard enough for me as it is," sat in front of investigative journalist Ilana Dayan on the evening program "Uvda" ("Fact") and paved a path back to where he came from. Everyone knew that his resignation plan was a sham and they told him as much, and yet his effort to win back public adoration worked quite well. Dayan had many pointed questions, but Deri was born ready for media interviews. A hefty part of the public fell for his crocodile tears. They were shocked and concerned that he really might be leaving. Rabbis gathered outside his home and yeshiva students left "their Torah, their profession" to announce that Yahad Haam Itanu leader and Deri's rival, Eli Yishai, is a "traitor," all the while praying that good father Deri would lead them once again. They believed, in their naivete, that the Divine Presence needed to descend from the heavens and demand that he not abandon his flock. It borders on insulting. Not only because of Deri's trick -- with which his wife Yaffa helped, giving a winning interview to Channel 2 -- but chiefly because of his public. It is a public that allows a man once imprisoned for a serious and disgraceful crime to deceive it and use it "as putty in the hands of the Creator." If I were a loyal Shas voter, it is extremely unlikely that I would cast my ballot for someone who treated me like this, who belittled me, who took his constituents on an unbearable merry-go-round. Deri beat his opponents on three levels. He made the Council of Torah Sages bend to his will, he brought voters back to the struggling party and, most importantly, he managed to wipe the content of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's words from the public consciousness of the party's voters. Yosef had some very harsh words to say about Deri, but who in the ultra-Orthodox Har Nof neighborhood can remember what it was he said? Absolutely no one. Right now, he has the upper hand. But if the public turns its attention to the content of the leaked tapes, and if it becomes clear that Yishai's supporters have more tapes squirreled away, a second round of feigned resignation will not succeed, even among Shas' most loyal voters.
