This weeks Torah Reading Pekudei describes a very Jewish character trait meticulous accounting whether in business government or the social sector. After Moses earlier call for donations the parsha opens with an accounting of the Jewish peoples precious metal gifts to build the desert Tabernacle (Exodus 35).
These amounts of materials were used for the Tabernacle of Testimony which were recorded at Moses command. The total amount of gold used for all the work on the Tabernacle was 29 talents and 730 shekels according to the sacred shekel. A talent was 3000 shekels and a shekel was about 9.5-11 grams according to various archaeological finds.
The silver obtained from the community who were counted in the census was 100 talents and 1775 shekels according to the sacred shekel. One beka per person that is half a shekel according to the sacred shekel from everyone who passed the census takers twenty years old or more a total of 603550 men.
One hundred talents of silver were used to cast the sockets for the Tabernacle and for the partition 100 bases from the 100 talents one talent for each base. They used the 1775 shekels to make the hooks for the pillars to overlay the tops of the pillars and to make their bands. The copper from the wave offering was 70 talents and 2400 shekels (Exodus 36:21-29).
So I thought that since the Torah reading deals with counting it might be interesting to look at some numbers relating to election polls for the upcoming Israeli elections.
A new poll published by Walla! conducted by Panels Politics" has the Sephardic-Haredi Shas party just passing the electoral threshold with 4 seats. Both Moshe Feiglins Zehut party and former Defense Minister Avigdor Libermans Yisrael Beitenu party failed to pass the electoral threshold of 3.25 a minimum of 4 seats.
And another recent poll carried out by Panels Politics" for Channel 13s Hadashot Haboker" also gives Shas 4 seats. Yisrael Beitenu and Zehut dont cross the threshold again. In Fact Zehut has only crossed the threshold once achieving 5 seats in a poll on February 14 since holding their primary on January 29. Yisrael Beitenu has only crossed the threshold twice in the last eight polls for the last two weeks.
At the end of December when Naftali Bennett Ayelet Shaked and Shuli Muelum announced that they were leaving Jewish Home to form their new party the New Right they immediately reached a high of 14 seats in one poll and have precipitously dropped since then to average 6.688 seats in 16 polls.
Jewish Home before Bennett Shaked and Muelum left had 8 seats in the outgoing Knesset and then dropped to 5 after their departure.
Since the Jewish Home-National Union-Otzma Yehudit joint list was announced on February 20 (now called the Union of Right-Wing Parties URWP) its reached a high of 9 seats and has averaged 6.375 seats in the same 16 polls.
More recently the United Right Wing Party has beaten the New Right in 6 out of the last 10 polls. And combined URWP and NR have been hovering around 13-14 seats.
Since December 26 2018 when the government was dissolved Shas has peaked at 7 seats twice in 62 polls and hasnt crossed the threshold twice its been averaging 4.871 seats.
When looking at potential coalition configurations polls sometimes put the center-left-Arab parties ahead of the center-right-religious parties but you need to remember what Benny Gantz Yair Lapid and Yael German have recently said about not sitting with the Arab parties.
Benny Gantz said he will call for a unity government with all parties including with Likud which will join us and anyone else who is Zionist and sane." That would apparently exclude Odeh Tibi and the Arab Parties.
So too Yair Lapid who has said that his party would not form a government coalition with the Arab parties insisting on a coalition of Zionist parties; as has Yael German promised another Yesh Atid leader.
After an election the President of Israel following consultations with the elected party leaders chooses the Knesset member most likely to have the ability to form a viable (coalition) government. While this typically is the leader of the party receiving the most seats it is not required to be so. In the event a party wins 61 or more seats in an election it can form a viable government without having to form a coalition. However no party has ever won more than 56 seats in an election; thus a coalition has always been required. That party leader then has up to 45 days to negotiate with the different parties and then present his or her government to the Knesset for a vote of confidence. If the Knesset approves the proposed government (by a vote of at least 61 members) he or she becomes Prime Minister.
It will be impossible for the center-left to form a government even if the Lapid-Gantz Blue and White party gets the most seats assuming they keep their word about not sitting with the Arab parties. Netanyahu and Likud only need to hang tough and refuse to join them.
In 10 opinion polls since February 1 questioning voters which party leader they would prefer as Prime Minister PM Netanyahu or Benny Gantz Netanyahu has peaked at 48 twice versus Gantzs high of 41. Netanyahu has averaged 45.2 against Gantzs 36.7. The polls show Netanyahu hasnt yet been substantially hurt by the Attorney Generals announcement of intent to indict him on corruption charges.
Although Israel doesnt have direct election of the prime minister I believe that one most take into consideration voters preferences as to who should be the next prime minister besides looking at party list polls because many might change their vote in the last moments and so far it looks to be in Netanyahus favor.
Even Gideon Levy an extreme leftist journalist for Haaretz appearing on the Erel Segal and Chaim Levinson talk show on 103FM radio at the end of December has said Im not joking when I say if I have to choose between Gantz Lapid or Netanyahu today I choose Netanyahu without hesitation" Levy said. He continued I never thought to cross the lines and never thought to leave but the reality changed. I believed in the reality of two states for two peoples. You the right have removed this possibility from the chapter and this train has already left the station."
Meaning because of Palestinian intransigence and the numbers of Jews in Judea and Samaria Levys given up hope for the two-state solution. Is he becoming a born-again rightist voting for Netanyahu?
I firmly believe that Feiglin and Liberman should encourage their parties to drop out of the race and call on their voting public to back either Likud NR or URWP so that no seats are lost to the center-left.
While dreaming if Shas would only merge after this election with United Torah Judaism (the Ashkenazi Haredi party) to form a united Haredi party; with the demise of Libermans primarily Russian-backed party; we could put an end to pernicious ethnic politics which is so destructive to Israeli society forever.
There really shouldnt be Jewish ethnic-based political parties in Israel. Politics should be a competition of ideas and policies not a competition based on national origins from the Galut (exile).
That would strengthen social cohesion and Achdut Yisrael (national unity in Israel) which is a sacred Torah value.
A lesson we can learn from this weeks Torah reading itself where everyone donated to the Tabernacle and had a hand in building the national sanctuary.
Ariel Natan Pasko an independent analyst and consultant has a Masters Degree specializing in International Relations Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
(c) 2019/5779 Pasko
This weeks Torah Reading Pekudei describes a very Jewish character trait meticulous accounting whether in business government or the social sector. After Moses earlier call for donations the parsha opens with an accounting of the Jewish peoples precious metal gifts to build the desert Tabernacle (Exodus 35).
These amounts of materials were used for the Tabernacle of Testimony which were recorded at Moses command. The total amount of gold used for all the work on the Tabernacle was 29 talents and 730 shekels according to the sacred shekel. A talent was 3000 shekels and a shekel was about 9.5-11 grams according to various archaeological finds.
The silver obtained from the community who were counted in the census was 100 talents and 1775 shekels according to the sacred shekel. One beka per person that is half a shekel according to the sacred shekel from everyone who passed the census takers twenty years old or more a total of 603550 men.
One hundred talents of silver were used to cast the sockets for the Tabernacle and for the partition 100 bases from the 100 talents one talent for each base. They used the 1775 shekels to make the hooks for the pillars to overlay the tops of the pillars and to make their bands. The copper from the wave offering was 70 talents and 2400 shekels (Exodus 36:21-29).
So I thought that since the Torah reading deals with counting it might be interesting to look at some numbers relating to election polls for the upcoming Israeli elections.
A new poll published by Walla! conducted by Panels Politics" has the Sephardic-Haredi Shas party just passing the electoral threshold with 4 seats. Both Moshe Feiglins Zehut party and former Defense Minister Avigdor Libermans Yisrael Beitenu party failed to pass the electoral threshold of 3.25 a minimum of 4 seats.
And another recent poll carried out by Panels Politics" for Channel 13s Hadashot Haboker" also gives Shas 4 seats. Yisrael Beitenu and Zehut dont cross the threshold again. In Fact Zehut has only crossed the threshold once achieving 5 seats in a poll on February 14 since holding their primary on January 29. Yisrael Beitenu has only crossed the threshold twice in the last eight polls for the last two weeks.
At the end of December when Naftali Bennett Ayelet Shaked and Shuli Muelum announced that they were leaving Jewish Home to form their new party the New Right they immediately reached a high of 14 seats in one poll and have precipitously dropped since then to average 6.688 seats in 16 polls.
Jewish Home before Bennett Shaked and Muelum left had 8 seats in the outgoing Knesset and then dropped to 5 after their departure.
Since the Jewish Home-National Union-Otzma Yehudit joint list was announced on February 20 (now called the Union of Right-Wing Parties URWP) its reached a high of 9 seats and has averaged 6.375 seats in the same 16 polls.
More recently the United Right Wing Party has beaten the New Right in 6 out of the last 10 polls. And combined URWP and NR have been hovering around 13-14 seats.
Since December 26 2018 when the government was dissolved Shas has peaked at 7 seats twice in 62 polls and hasnt crossed the threshold twice its been averaging 4.871 seats.
When looking at potential coalition configurations polls sometimes put the center-left-Arab parties ahead of the center-right-religious parties but you need to remember what Benny Gantz Yair Lapid and Yael German have recently said about not sitting with the Arab parties.
Benny Gantz said he will call for a unity government with all parties including with Likud which will join us and anyone else who is Zionist and sane." That would apparently exclude Odeh Tibi and the Arab Parties.
So too Yair Lapid who has said that his party would not form a government coalition with the Arab parties insisting on a coalition of Zionist parties; as has Yael German promised another Yesh Atid leader.
After an election the President of Israel following consultations with the elected party leaders chooses the Knesset member most likely to have the ability to form a viable (coalition) government. While this typically is the leader of the party receiving the most seats it is not required to be so. In the event a party wins 61 or more seats in an election it can form a viable government without having to form a coalition. However no party has ever won more than 56 seats in an election; thus a coalition has always been required. That party leader then has up to 45 days to negotiate with the different parties and then present his or her government to the Knesset for a vote of confidence. If the Knesset approves the proposed government (by a vote of at least 61 members) he or she becomes Prime Minister.
It will be impossible for the center-left to form a government even if the Lapid-Gantz Blue and White party gets the most seats assuming they keep their word about not sitting with the Arab parties. Netanyahu and Likud only need to hang tough and refuse to join them.
In 10 opinion polls since February 1 questioning voters which party leader they would prefer as Prime Minister PM Netanyahu or Benny Gantz Netanyahu has peaked at 48 twice versus Gantzs high of 41. Netanyahu has averaged 45.2 against Gantzs 36.7. The polls show Netanyahu hasnt yet been substantially hurt by the Attorney Generals announcement of intent to indict him on corruption charges.
Although Israel doesnt have direct election of the prime minister I believe that one most take into consideration voters preferences as to who should be the next prime minister besides looking at party list polls because many might change their vote in the last moments and so far it looks to be in Netanyahus favor.
Even Gideon Levy an extreme leftist journalist for Haaretz appearing on the Erel Segal and Chaim Levinson talk show on 103FM radio at the end of December has said Im not joking when I say if I have to choose between Gantz Lapid or Netanyahu today I choose Netanyahu without hesitation" Levy said. He continued I never thought to cross the lines and never thought to leave but the reality changed. I believed in the reality of two states for two peoples. You the right have removed this possibility from the chapter and this train has already left the station."
Meaning because of Palestinian intransigence and the numbers of Jews in Judea and Samaria Levys given up hope for the two-state solution. Is he becoming a born-again rightist voting for Netanyahu?
I firmly believe that Feiglin and Liberman should encourage their parties to drop out of the race and call on their voting public to back either Likud NR or URWP so that no seats are lost to the center-left.
While dreaming if Shas would only merge after this election with United Torah Judaism (the Ashkenazi Haredi party) to form a united Haredi party; with the demise of Libermans primarily Russian-backed party; we could put an end to pernicious ethnic politics which is so destructive to Israeli society forever.
There really shouldnt be Jewish ethnic-based political parties in Israel. Politics should be a competition of ideas and policies not a competition based on national origins from the Galut (exile).
That would strengthen social cohesion and Achdut Yisrael (national unity in Israel) which is a sacred Torah value.
A lesson we can learn from this weeks Torah reading itself where everyone donated to the Tabernacle and had a hand in building the national sanctuary.
Ariel Natan Pasko an independent analyst and consultant has a Masters Degree specializing in International Relations Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
(c) 2019/5779 Pasko