פודקאסט ״השראה״ הרב יעקב אשר יו״ר יהדות התורה | פרק #19

So, welcome to the Inspiration Podcast. I am very excited and have been waiting a long time for this opportunity, to meet the bulldozer of the Haredi sector , Yaakov Asher, who today leads United Torah Judaism, and it is a great honor for us as a sector. I have heard a lot about him, I know him well, and I have been following him for a very, very long time. I have been wanting this podcast, and finally today we have the privilege to learn and get to know who Yaakov Asher is. Yaakov Asher, hello to you. >> Hello. >> It is a great honor, thank you for agreeing to come here. >> It is my pleasure. >> Why is the first word that jumps to everyone's mind "bulldozer"? You would have to check the resume, but I am proud of that, even though it isn't the most delicate word. You know, there are people who like it when you speak to them in more... >> More delicate terms. Yes, that’s true ...but I am proud of it because it is simply part of how I operate, truly trying to reach everything, to break through everything. I also don’t do it in a way of...if I see walls or things like that, I don’t try to break them down, I try to bypass them, I try to get around it. So the " bulldozer" is ultimately probably an equation of results, that you succeed in reaching what you want, and I think that this name was given to me during the time I was Mayor of Bnei Brak. >> Exactly on that. >> And it probably continues from there, and I am proud of this name, and that is perfectly fine, I won't argue with it. >> I won't argue with it. Now, if you mentioned Bnei Brak, I've been following you for a long time, and one of the truly great things—Bnei Brak is not the same—I think the period you were mayor was the period that most influenced Bnei Brak for the better, without speaking about other people and names. For example, the whole crazy vision that today turned Bnei Brak into a city that brings in so much money and enables Torah learners through the BBC and that complex. Let’s dive for a moment into your time as Mayor of Bnei Brak and the great path you took there. Look, I started in the municipality at age 23; it was after 1989, Degel HaTorah entered the municipality, and I went through several positions— assistant to the deputy mayor and later to the mayor. I basically went through and learned all the municipality departments and all those things, and the path wasn't easy. Meaning, I had no problem being an assistant; we helped so many, many people. We learned this city, because after all, it is already a built-up and crowded city with all the problems and so on, and very many things related to that. During one of the periods, I was appointed, even during the time of the appointed committee, they appointed me to be responsible for building educational institutions, and we made a huge revolution—if we hadn't done it, there are schools one after another, which I could list for you here, that were built then, and if they hadn't been built, we would have had thousands of victims in the city. There was a period where there were very, very many victims, and those things were a very big challenge for the city, and in many things we progressed with time and everything. And afterwards, when there was a political situation and I became deputy mayor and chairman of the planning and building committee, my dream was to create the oil well from which this city, with its very special residents—a city that is truly about Torah and kindness and not the greatest wealth in the world, though there are affluent people in Bnei Brak too, and that’s fine—but I said a city cannot...Bnei Brak went through a lot of turmoil; it went through an appointed committee, it went through government-appointed financial controllers. And while I was deputy mayor, I began to promote the Bnei Brak Business Center (BBC) complex. At first they didn't believe, they didn't believe it was possible. >> At first there were those who asked me, "What on earth, in Bnei Brak, to do something like this? It doesn't fit, it does fit." I said, "Why? A meter away from there is Ramat Gan, why should they take the property tax revenue we could get and give it to their city?" People didn't believe it. I walked around with a rendering that looked almost one-to-one like what you see in reality today. >> Wow. >> And I walked around with a rendering then, and people said: "The guy is crazy, Bnei Brak?""Who would come to Bnei Brak?""Who?" And we promoted the plans, and I had absolute trust from the district planning committee, and they really gave me things that allowed me to truly get developers to come and invest in the city. And we did it in many ways, with a lot of trust in the municipality; they saw that we were goal-oriented, and I saw it as a dream. And one more thing I did with it when it started: we branded the city, we branded this place, we called it the BBC, Bnei Brak Business Center. And I’ll give you a benchmark for why I know it worked: there is the Dan Design Center complex, which is the largest furniture complex in the country, I think it’s also in Bnei Brak, right? >> Now it sits in Bnei Brak on Bnei Brak municipal land in... >> Next to, next to the train. >> Next to the train, next to the mall, for all those years their advertising was "Dan Design Ramat Gan,""Dan Design next to the mall," there wasn't a word about Bnei Brak. >> Even though they paid property tax to Bnei Brak. >> Even though...what does "paid property tax" mean? It's Bnei Brak. What does " property tax to Bnei Brak" mean? Everything is Bnei Brak. The building permits? Bnei Brak. Everything. And when we started with the BBC and they began to see the...the thing in those years, and today, until today, you will see "Bnei Brak," they don't say "Ramat Gan" anymore, they don't say "Ramat Gan " anymore, it's as if it wasn't good for them business-wise to do that. And whoever walks around this business center today and sees, indeed, the biggest companies, accounting firms and law firms, uh, the biggest credit card companies, the back offices of banks and so on, and also sees the composition of the population there, it really helped a great many Haredi people who until today had offices inside Bnei Brak on Rabbi Akiva street on some second floor of an old building , they moved there. >> All of them. >> Moved over there. It also develops the ...it was a vision, it was a desire, it was one of my greatest satisfactions. I remember driving with my son from Ramat HaHayal, from Assuta Hospital—we were at a check-up—and then we were on the bridge, seeing the skyline of Bnei Brak with the cranes and all the towers and so on. It’s a big story. My son says: Look, you changed the...this thing. But what I said at the launch ceremony of the BBC—we branded it—was that the Governor of the Bank of Israel was there, Rabbi Gafni was there as Chairman of the Finance Committee, the Minister of Finance was there, and there were hundreds of entrepreneurs and people, most of whom had already built there and achieved things. This was still at the first tower, and I told them shamelessly: all the money you invest here goes toward this city located right here behind us. You will receive the best service here. I brought in two small street-sweeper trucks with "BBC" written on them, just for them, to clean things up for them while it was also clean during that period. I saw this as the breakthrough of Bnei Brak, and it is a great pride for me, and you know, that’s also where the nicknames and things came from and so on. >> I’m sure that with such success and such a dream, you faced quite a few obstacles along the way. If you could share with us perhaps the main obstacle that was challenging for you in leading this plan and how you overcame it. >> Look, in everything there are cracks and in everything there are problems, some objective, sometimes subjective. I won't...the biggest crisis was for people to believe that the Bnei Brak Municipality underwent a transformation in this regard. >> Bnei Brak Municipality, from a place of being needy and begging, to a place that leads projects. In my first year as mayor, with tremendous divine assistance, and also because I knew the system and had prepared it beforehand, even when I was acting mayor—together with the treasurer and our budget department staff and so on, we signed an recovery plan. Bnei Brak had signed 30 recovery plans in total, before I became mayor, and not one of them was implemented. In the end, it wasn't fully implemented, but we signed. On a recovery plan. That in its first year, it was self-balancing; we didn't create any more deficits, and that was even before we started receiving taxes from the BBC. >> Wow. >> They only saw the horizon. I remember the first day I came in as mayor, I called the municipal secretary and spokesman—you know Avraham Tenenboim, a dear man, very veteran in the system, may Hashem send him a complete recovery , he is no longer with the municipality . >> Amen. >> And I called him and said: Listen. He was always used to, and you know, the pressure on government ministries was that Bnei Brak was a city in the lowest socio-economic state, a poor city and so on. It was part of the press releases as a spokesman and, well, that's a certain type of thing. I told him in the past: What, are we 100? We are not poor people coming to ask for charity. We are not at the lowest socio-economic level. We are coming with a tremendous plan that is going to show development in Bnei Brak, which is going to bring a lot of money to the city. We are coming to show a functioning municipality, and it’s time to change the attitude. And this thing was a challenge, or an obstacle —you call it a challenge, maybe it was an obstacle, because we passed it. We passed it, and I invested in branding, and also, do you know what we did? Ah, what is called VIP for tower developers. Once, they could stand in the engineering department—Yeshiva students with their blueprints, contractors with four, 10, 12, or 20 housing units in the city, And compared to the 40-story towers going up now. Thank God we gave attention to the residents and Yeshiva students for home expansions and to contractors, but I created a fast track, a shortcut as much as possible, naturally within the legal and proper terms for these business people. And they brought—in the end, you know, a developer who comes and invests in the city, puts the tractors down, breaks ground, invests a lot of money, and pays the levies and development fees—all of which go for the benefit of the city's residents— he must come with trust. If he doesn't have trust, he doesn't come. They don't come to be philanthropists; they come to make a profit, and that is one of the challenges I feel we have overcome. And I think it’s like that with everything, including the things that await us now, and also in my work in the Knesset. I am constantly trying to overcome challenges, not to run into walls, to try to bypass them, to try to dismantle them nicely and correctly, but with a lot of determination, and I hope there will be Divine assistance. >> Amen. Developers watching now have their own life challenges and want the coach's tip: How do you overcome crises and how do you advance such large projects? What is your golden tip? Look , I am not a business coach. I only know one thing: when there were developers in Bnei Brak who would submit plans for housing, for building a building in the city, etc., and they would come with all sorts of clever tricks to try this and do more of that ...I told them: Listen. After I once called a developer who was a "smart aleck" contractor, I told him: Listen, while you are busy with another 20-30 meters that you could do this and that with, and in the end, you might not even be able to do it and you'll get entangled—in that time you could have already built two more new buildings. >> Wow. >> So that is a kind of coaching—not coaching, but advice I can give. >> Don't get stuck. >> Focus—don't get stuck on something you think you can make just a little bit better. >> Think big. >> Look ahead, look at the big picture. That is how I see my work, and I think everyone is an entrepreneur in their own field. I also feel like an entrepreneur—an entrepreneur for the benefit of the public, one who needs to bring the public what they need for their quality of life, for their faith, for what they believe in, and for their needs. >> Luckily, it didn't end in Bnei Brak, and you moved on to the Knesset and politics, and you are known as someone who led laws and actually broke through in many things. What do you see as your "claim to fame," your legacy? Which law do you see as the one you are most proud of, out of the many? >> Look, there are laws related to the Haredi public and core issues; there are many that my colleagues led and I led, and together we did a lot, and we won't start detailing them all. I am very proud of our work on social issues , especially for special-needs children or disabilities or things of that nature, because these are people who fall through the cracks. I'll tell you a little story: during my first term, I was in the opposition, and I managed to pass the first law under my name while in the opposition. I was the only one from the opposition to pass a law with the coalition. >> When Lapid was Finance Minister and his partners, and so on. This law was for extending maternity leave for mothers of preemies; a preemie requires a lot of work with that. >> Up until then, they had a little more than usual, and I added about four or five weeks to it. With National Insurance, with everything, I managed to get it passed. And right after that, there were elections, and we went to do some filming for it. One of the things we talked about—everyone had to present something. You know, they used to do campaigns where everyone shows what they've done; today it's just in conversations like this with you, right ? And >> I saw it was hard for me to get to a podcast. You are a man of action; you don't have the energy to sit and talk. >> But in the end, we found it. >> In the end, we found the time; we are here, we are here. >> And thanks to the elections, probably, let's be honest. >> You always tell me, "Dudi, let it go, let me work, let me do, let me move forward." You don't live, but maybe we can stop for a second and look back because we all want some inspiration— how did you say, we are all entrepreneurs. >> That's true, and We got there, and I filmed the segment, and then the cameraman filming me—back then there were those big cameras—he pops his head out. He's a guy I know today. A Haredi guy who worked in a studio, I remember Hidabroot, someone we worked with in some studio, says to me: "Wow, this law is yours? I benefited from it. " Now he has a daughter who was born a preemie, he's benefiting from it now. And I'll tell you about the story from this week—I mean, it started much earlier, but this week I was at a retreat for "Mehubarim"[connected], they invited me. Now why did they invite me? Not because they invite Members of Knesset, and not because of the elections—this was even before we knew the election date and so on. Six months ago, I get a phone call from a Haredi man from Beit Shemesh. I won't say his name. I don't think he's a Degel HaTorah voter, necessarily. He might be, and he told me a truly difficult story about the hardship of children with complex medical needs, babies, regarding their mobility—they get a car from the National Insurance, and they get it at age three. These are kids who need a lot; they go out with a stroller like a semi-trailer, with a ventilator, these are children who are ventilated, they are really at the extreme end—sweet and wonderful, but ... >> But they are in a difficult situation. >> He told me about it, and I went to the National Insurance and said to them: " What are you doing?""Why age three?" I mean, you're holding me to age three for nothing. Okay, there is some logic, because until age three it doesn't always require mobility, children don't sit in wheelchairs until age three, but there are certain kids with such complexity that...in short, I reached an understanding with them. I mean, they said: "We can't, because that's the law." I reached an agreement with them and the Treasury, and I filed a bill. Unfortunately, it was right at the end of the term, and we tried to pass it. I passed it in the Ministerial Committee, but it didn't make it to the plenum because the Knesset had already dissolved and there was already the... But it will pass in the next term. And then he...I had already worked with him on the law...and then he says to me: " Listen, we are holding a retreat in a few months, and I spoke with Rabbi Levin, who is the driving force behind all these projects and does amazing, incredible things, and we want you to come and see these people." And I arrived there. I was in Tiberias for a headquarters opening and here and there in the north, and I got to them and met the parents there, and I talked about the law I had worked on a few months earlier; I told them about it and promised them, God willing, that it would be the first law I pass. But I also told them about another law I passed six months ago, which speaks again about extending maternity leave for mothers with such children, with medical complexities, that it doesn't ...it doesn't necessarily grant an extension because their complexity isn't defined. In other words, their complexity is such that it’s not a specific disability but something that ...and two parents, a woman and another ...they pointed out while I was talking and telling them, they said: "We aren't included in this." Now, you see...And you work hard to pass a law, it’s difficult, and so on, but it is a tremendous satisfaction. The greatest satisfaction is in the small things. If you are driving big things, whether it's in planning and construction— changing planning and construction laws , changing things, the whole metro project which I think is important for Gush Dan, certainly for Bnei Brak as well, which we promoted—there are many, many things, and we have many things that for us are the spiritual things that are very important to us, but the impact is everywhere. >> Amazing. Amidst all the public storm now regarding the conscription law, do you think—are you going to do something differently, or is it all more of the same? >> You are always doing something differently because you have to prepare for war on every possible front. And we are used to there having been wars in the past over these things, and there were various things we did that truly prevented this. We have reached a period where they have put us in the crosshairs; they took the Haredim without distinguishing anyone, so that no one would think that if he looks different from someone else or acts a little differently, but he is Haredi— they put us all in their sights, especially trying to dismantle this balance called the world of Torah. By hook or by crook. I just returned from a manufacturers 'conference and I told them: "There is no precedent for something like this, that they are trying..." Every possible sanction. Despite all this, we will continue this fight. We haven't thrown up our hands; we must not throw up our hands, and we won't throw up our hands. And there are difficulties, they have recruited the legal system for the matter. It has essentially taken us out of the political playing field. Meaning, we brought the majority for the proposals we wanted. We brought the decisions that were needed, but the High Court cancels them, and people will come and say it will be canceled again in the future. So what will happen? So first of all, it may be, and it also may not be, because there are many constellations that could occur here. >> There will also be many appointments now. >> There will be changes, there will be things we don't know. It is like an earthquake that is going to happen with these elections. No one knows what will happen, but even if we don't know what will happen, so what? Does that mean giving up? Like saying: That’s it, take Yavne and its sages, come start telling us how you want us to learn, how you want us to...like, what is the alternative? We are obligated to fight and preserve our uniqueness as Haredim. Anyone who is proud to say it, even if he works on the 32nd floor in a high-tech office and is proud to say: I am a Haredi person, and his office looks like a Haredi person's office, and you see that he has a Mincha prayer there...look, come to the BSR towers, you will see there is a Beit Midrash where they study for an hour a day. Anyone who defines himself as Haredi, even if he is a yeshiva student who sits and learns, and even if he is a Kollel scholar who sits and learns, and even if it is a person who goes out to earn a living well and his children learn in a yeshiva—we as a collective are in their crosshairs. Yes, because we scare them, as a collective too. So I don't need to try to find a wise person among them. How did I tell them there today at the assembly? I told them you are wrong about one thing. You are trying to fit the hand to the glove , and don't talk to me about integration and that. I told them regarding degrees, you stop people with the degrees even though they have an equivalent degree. And even though you could have promoted them, let them advance even without it. Why in high-tech do they advance more? It’s because there, the degree is not the game. But in other things, you are holding Haredi people back, holding them back because you want to change the hand according to the criteria. I suggest the opposite to you: change the glove, it’s easier, and fit it to this hand. But they...they don't love us, Dudi, they don't love us. My friends, Members of Knesset, will also change. Friends, we talk, we hang out, we...but in the end, it scares them, and in the end, they want us to be like them. They want to clone us and our children and tell us if we are intelligent enough or not. And if we do so, then we will be intelligent, and if not. Well done. >> Can it be said that this is one of the main focuses of your struggle in the coming term? >> One of the main ones. One of the main ones. And on the other hand, there are families of modern Haredim who say we want more subjects, more subjects for our education, and you, as one who made many changes in this field and even took care of institutions like Boston and other institutions, >> many years ago, even before they were even talking about it. >> What do you have to say to those families now who say we need news in this area, we want the Torah world [to remain] one? >> That in recent years there has been a change, there are places where frameworks have opened that suit the different shades of the Haredi public. But there is a condition to the different shades. And in the end, you know, there are many shades, but they need to be within it. We have a framework called the Yeshiva world, and whoever studied in a Yeshiva, whoever is currently studying in a Yeshiva, whoever listens to the words of the great sages of Israel, you know what? Not just listens. Someone who has a problem or needs advice, or wants this, he goes to...so our public has grown significantly and the nuances have grown, and even within the public called modern, you know, this name. And like, this is not something I don't know, these are things we live with here. That I know people from the Kehal Chazon community, that I know people from this or that hi-tech company– they try to brand this thing, and I am against this branding, but Even in these directions, there is variety. There are those who want more of this, and there are those who want more of that. There are those who are very, very liberal and want things that could really lead them off the path, and there I am not involved. But Adapting institutions and opening such institutions, I tell you, 30 years ago, I didn't establish Boston. Boston was established by Rabbi Netipek, may he be well. And he continues to manage it to this day, but I gave him a boost and helped him all along the way. The Razili school, not just as a head, I tell you even when I was in positions as director of education and so on, also Razili, Horev school, because in their path, I was acting head for two and a half or three years. >> You don't like extremism? Ah, >> Acting head. I don't like extremism in anything. I can respect, but places mean: I know what our education is, and I know how to respect those who come and say: We want it a bit differently, but we accept upon ourselves the atmosphere of the community, we do not remove ourselves from the community. Now, I won't come to sell—there are elections, so I'll come to sell people that I will do things contrary to the decisions of the great sages of Israel? No. But I tell you, and you asked me what I am going to do, and that is why I am also bringing you what I have done , because I was there for three years, Ask...ask Rabbi Moshe Stein who has two institutions, for both boys and girls, Shirat Sarah and I don't even remember the names, which is like in my time exactly for this purpose, when I established a Talmud Torah for the more nuclear community, the Talmud Torah of Rabbi Wallis that was for more open-minded avreichim and so on. I truly believe in this, it has also been done in recent years in Beit Shemesh, it was done in Beitar, Dudi Zalt who is with us today in the new group entering , did it. This too I can promise. One thing today, as chairman, I tell you: I will open institutions, I will ensure the opening...it's not me opening, I will ensure to encourage the opening of such institutions with all my might, because we need to adapt, we need to adapt–but on one condition: everything under. >> The sponsorship and the oversight of the great sages of Israel, we are not breaking any fences, we do not want to break any fences. After all, any person who was moderate could say he could break the fence and become something. We don't want to, they don't want to. I don't want to. Nobody wants to. >> People say, "Yaakov Asher, you are truly a charming man and everything is fine, and the politicians want to, but in the end, the High Court rules the country here." And what will come of it if I go to the polls or not? In any case, it's the High Court. It's not our elected officials. Since I know that in the High Court, none of them is an angel, and none of them is a seraph, and none of them is a person devoid of ...I think that strong representation and a statement that will come now after the elections, after all...These people, the directors in the media, and the program managers upstairs are sure that they are breaking us—they live with the feeling that they are breaking us, they highlight all kinds of new phenomena of this, they are constantly creating a sense of chaos within us. All day I run from headquarters to headquarters, and this morning I hear some commentator saying: "There are no more elections in United Torah Judaism. " By my life, I haven't slept for four days, the headquarters are working, and at conventions, I've already met hundreds of people. They are trying to break us with this; if we come with our strength after this, there will also be further developments in politics. The High Court are people who read newspapers, the High Court are people who do the math, and we have had many surprises in these matters, and we will fight for these things, and we will also succeed. It’s not one-way. Especially since there are all kinds of laws that will advance and all kinds of things that will happen. You know what? Even if the Left were in charge, they would make changes to this. Because even people from the Left would not be able to stomach the form of intervention of the High Court today, where it runs the government—you cannot run the government. If Yitzhak Rabin had been in that period... >> If there had been an Yitzhak Rabin who was Prime Minister from the Labor party ... >> And he had such legal advice on his head in this way, and a High Court sitting on his head in this way, he would have done a reform back then, he would have done a reform even greater than Yariv Levin’s. >> How do we rouse the public anyway? There is a part of the public that is apathetic, that is tired, that needs to be roused. And this is the opportunity to tell them: "Wake up." What are we telling them? >> You know, we didn't finish long ago, or maybe we haven't finished yet. Ah, you ask me how to rouse a public to enter the safe room or run to the shelter when there is a siren and you hear the booms that we all heard falling next to you. One must rouse them. We need to bring in Rabbi Bar-Hozmlom now to explain. Friends, this is a war! Open your eyes, read the papers, see how they call us, see how they talk about us, how they laugh at our children, how a Supreme Court Justice, the President of the Supreme Court, sits and laughs at Haredim who don't have a phone, even though we know...that we know there are tens of thousands who really have the most outdated phone there is, we know that. There are those who don't, and they have protection and they have this , but what contempt! See what they write about us, see what they do to us, see what they try to prevent us from having. They are not ready to recognize us, in this, they want to clone us. So when you see, hear a siren, hear booms —and now guys, we need to think about it. >> Open your, open your eyes. >> Understand for a moment, they are waging a culture war now, this is not the whole country, because at the end of the day, when you go into the cities , certainly in the periphery, certainly in those places where people are traditional, sweet, they love us, respect Torah scholars, respect the Torah, respect the synagogue. There is a certain elite that is concentrated on Kaplan Street in Tel Aviv, with media that glorifies them and goes along with them on a planned campaign. You also see every day a new exposé about the Right, and about this one, and that one , and the other one. Everything is bad, everything is bad, everything is bad. They haven't done anything good, but they changed us, they took us. And I want to tell you a secret, that they warned us they were going to do this to us when the legal coup, or legal revolution, or legal reform began. People, the so-called protest organizers and so on, told us: we will take you, we will do this to you. So when you see people, a person running after you with a stick, you either pick up a stick and hit him back, but you don't stand on the side and start thinking and get beaten, and you also don't take the stick later and hit yourself, just to throw your vote in the ballot box for things that won't pass the threshold, not even a fraction of the threshold. We need to look out for ourselves, we need to be selfish for ourselves, for our public. But there are those who say: listen, okay, this is our public, that's true, I'm Haredi, that's true, but here it annoyed me, and here he doesn't exactly represent me, and here it needs to be changed, and here it needs to be changed. True, and we will change what needs to be changed, we won't change everything, but what do you do in the meantime? So, does that mean let's kill ourselves? Shall we commit hara-kiri? What, what? After all, who will look out for you? Who cares over there? Everyone looks out for themselves. Ben Gvir looks out for his own matters, the Temple Mount, the crocodiles, his wars with this and that. Fine, he's a very nice guy. Smotrich, we saw, looks out for his institutions, for the things that interest him, for his agenda. Not what interests him because he's a friend of someone, what is on his agenda. And he has a different agenda, a different worldview. And there are those that don't. So what do you do? You are basically betting on everything , you tell him it's not good for me, so let it never be good for me ever again, tell me, do you have to be a big genius to see this? >> Wake up. There is a lot of criticism in the world of politics, there are lots of arrows, do you read the bad comments or have you already developed thick skin? >> Look, first of all, you cannot live based on that. I don't, I don't read much, sometimes my assistants send me [ comments] or things of that nature. Thank God I don't live, don't experience a lot of criticism, certainly not on a personal level, and I am happy about that. When I go on Friday to Osher Ad for shopping, I go with the cart, and everyone knows the time I arrive more or less, and that's fine. For years and years, people come up to me and say thank you very much, and they say: come back to the municipality, we miss you, or they say "Yasher Koach"(well done). And people say, "You know," and here people only see the criticism. Come with me, stick with me for two days just walking down the street, and see how many people come over and say "Yasher Koach," thank you very much for the efforts, thank you very much for this. And I'm not, I'm not this, I'm not doing some kind of...Obviously, you have to look at criticism when it's relevant, when it's correct. And my way of doing that is when I see valid criticism or a request , I go back to it, I go back to the person and engage with them on the matter. In other words, come tell me, let's look into it, whether it's true or not true. I am someone who, there's no way I would receive a message and not reply, or my manager, who is the number one parliamentary aide in the State of Israel, who helps and connects with the public in an extraordinary way . There is no such thing as me not getting back to someone. Now, there is criticism, it's unpleasant. When they protest under my house and shout at me: "Yaakov Asher sells souls," and they are our own people—who I recognize from above as children of parents I helped when I was mayor here with property taxes—and some of them are my former friends, and they shout things like that, and I see my wife taking it to heart—it's hard. But it's not...you don't develop elephant skin, you look at what your goal is. You don't have the luxury of breaking down, you don't have the luxury of giving up, and therefore I say to the public, also to the public listening, the loyal public of your podcast and in general—it's our public, in the end, we don't have the luxury to break down or give up. We don't have this luxury, not us, those who need to do the work, and not you either, those who need to do the work now in the elections. >> One of the beautiful things, I met Moti Israel Reisner and... >> Right. >> And he tells me, he said things like that to me. I want to meet him too. He says to me: "Dudi, are you talking about the struggle of the public representatives regarding the draft law ?" Do you know what's happening? If there wasn't a struggle, everyone would have been drafted long ago. The very fact that there is a struggle here and they are fighting is thanks to the fact that we have representatives inside the Knesset, and the more representatives there are—it will be the ammunition for continuing the struggle. >> That is completely clear, and if someone thinks, thinks that...What will happen the day we give up politically and stop fighting, and it won't be the luxury of today. >> It's drafting, it's conscription. >> Today there are luxuries too, I don't really want to talk about that much, but those who tell me "my son is here and there," close to home with air conditioning—it won't end there, yes. >> These are the fruits of the struggle. >> It won't end there, it will be much more; if we give up—we won't give up because we won't abandon the world of Torah, we won't give up because the world of Torah is the thing that sustains the people of Israel. We believe in this. We believe in this. We truly believe that without Torah, there is no chance for this people. Nothing else will help. We believe in this. And it is our duty to protect this nuclear core called the world of Torah. And if we give up, everything will fall apart. They want to reach a melting pot in the end. You know what will happen, don't you? If the Haredim were to flock to the army, do you know what would happen ? You would see all the left-wing newspapers that attack us today, calling us draft dodgers, publishing articles and headlines about the " religious coercion" of the army, that they are going to make the army Haredi —they wouldn't have drafted us and wouldn't have done a thing. >> What would they realize? What's happening? >> They want us to be to their taste; they will decide what a Jewish identity is, they will decide what a Haredi is— they want the melting pot, they haven't internalized that there is a public here that has a special color of its own. Many shades within it, but a special color of its own. Do you know where they*did*internalize it? That same left—not the regular people who don't agree with this—but that same left, that same Kaplan, and those same media outlets, where did they internalize inclusion and understanding ? In the Arab public. The Arab public, 20%in the State of Israel, is a public with equal rights. I see them, they need to be given rights—that's fine, surely they receive them. >> They receive civil rights, and they receive much more than we do. And we are punished for the fact that we educated our children that one must go to Yeshiva. Okay, now he educated his children that they are forbidden from going to the army because he belongs to another nation, a nationalist one, so he is entitled to everything; and our children can't fly abroad, can't travel with the family for the holidays, can't do things like that, they stop them. Tell me, have we gone crazy? And you ask me how to select the public? Look at how they include the Arab public. Us , they asked to stand in the Knesset and declare if we have children or grandchildren who are draft dodgers. Mansour Abbas did not have to go through the humiliation of that legal advice. Where is our honor? Where is the honor of our public? So it's true, Yaakov Shar didn't help me once and, it wasn't that. Where is our honor? They are humiliating us. Guys, open your eyes: they are demeaning us, calling us parasites just because we wear a suit more than them and sometimes also wear a hat (there are those who wear the hat all the time, but it’s the same thing ). They hate it when they stall appointments in government ministries, even though we passed a law and we are passing laws on the subject of affirmative action for people, for Haredim in the civil service, in local authorities–in these things they hold us back. Why do they hold us back? They don't like us. Now, I’m not saying that because of this we need to fight with them, there’s no need to fight them; we just need to be strong and come and say: here is our power. These elections are a census, it’s not just an election–it’s a census of how many of us there are of this type, no matter the shades, how many of us, us. >> In the end, it’s all a matter of weight, just that, that's all. >> If it’s seven or nine or 10, it will determine the continuation of the struggle. >> It will determine, you always need Divine help. A Rabbi once told me that sometimes you can get many seats and there is no Divine help, and sometimes you can get that. But try to think for a moment, excuse me, on a podcast you can say this: Yonit Levi for example on election night, or I don't know who else is presenting the results night there and bringing up the results, and then they say: we reach United Torah Judaism, United Torah Judaism 10, how will their faces look? Think about it, guys. Come on, not that anyone is watching this, right? How will it sound ? We need to disappoint them. >> What will the phone call from the Prime Minister look like? >> Not how the conversation between her and her producer will look, what am I saying, where did we lose the campaign, we said we would dismantle them, we brought people here with dummy parties as if they have 20 seats. One of your videos from a few years ago that I remember very well is a video where you are in the middle of a committee, functioning, suddenly you stop the committee, you get a call, you say sorry, it's my mother, wait, I must get this video to show you. >> Now he starts this segment, now he steps into your shoes, you started this segment and then, one second, my mother . >> Without or I am in the middle. >> Sorry. >> Sorry, this is. >> There’s nothing like Mom. >> It’s stronger than anything, thank God. >> And you simply stop in the middle of the committee without any tact at all and devote yourself to your mother, what place do your parents take in your life? >> A lot, a lot, Mom, may she be healthy. We will wish her from here continued long life and years. She is very, very involved, follows me a great deal. My father also merited an extremely long life, there are even pictures where I would take him to the elections to vote ; he insisted at age 90 and. 96 to go and vote. Uh. They are not politically involved, but, my mother is very involved in. But. As far as I'm concerned, when I receive such a call ...it's not that...by the way, this is a video that came out from the Knesset Channel, I wasn't aware, I'm in the middle of a committee, I see all the guys in the committee start looking at it, smiling that it came out, they have someone there who catches funny moments or moving moments or what. But in terms of if my mother calls, then either God forbid she isn't feeling well or, or needs something, or what, so should I continue now, a committee that can take another hour or two? And then I stopped the committee and pushed my chair back and turned around and spoke, and I'm proud of that, and. The subject of honoring parents is a privilege, a privilege of ours. It's not just one honoring their parents, the question is how much we see it as a privilege or how much we see it as a chore, and, and . And in the family, I am probably the least busy person, so this task fell to me, uh; I had another brother who passed away a few years ago, my older brother, and I have another one, and pretty much most of the medical things and those matters are on my plate. But it’s simply a privilege, it’s simply the greatest joy when she comes and tells me: I saw you in the Knesset, she follows me: you talked to this one, you spoke nicely here, here you should have said this and that, but that's already that part. But to give them every day of more joy and another grandchild and another great-grandchild and another engagement of a grandchild and more, it's a privilege. I wish everyone, everyone, that they merit many years of honoring their parents. Honoring parents is the greatest joy, it is the greatest gratitude, and for me, how do they say? You only have one mother, you only have one mother, may she be healthy. >> Amen, you go home at the end, you go through intense days, you go through very intense days, whether it's during elections, or during active work, you return home to the family, to the four walls, how do you manage to distinguish between all the dopamine and the pressure cooker of the madness and a home that is >> I don't have four walls at home; I have a very active home. Once it was the children, today it's the children with the grandchildren, and when I'm home I'm not a Knesset member, I'm a dad And I'm a grandfather. And that is a lot thanks to my wife, who for many, many years—at age, I told you, I started with her at 23—uh, for very many years, uh, she has stood by my side and paid a price. Meaning, it falls on her, after all, it ends up falling on someone. So I told you, I do the shopping on Friday, but all the rest... but at home there is no such statement that because my dad is a mayor, or my dad is a Knesset member, or my dad is this, then I deserve more, I need more, I am someone else. I don't like to talk about the family, but I won't say uh, but my wife would never...I don't, my children know this too, I, I get angry at them when they come: you're going to something, go, nobody needs to know who you are and what you are, do they know you, do they not know you. And I also remember a story that happened, that my daughter, uh, was in school or seminary —I don't want to get into it so that they won't understand, so they won't know who is being talked about. It was back when I was either deputy mayor, already strong enough in the city, in the municipality in general, even when I was an assistant or CEO of the municipality and I was director of education, I was a strong figure in the municipality and I was very accessible, very accessible. My phone, every kid on the street knew it, and by the way, it hasn't changed since. I mean, besides being a way, the phone hasn't changed since those days. And my daughter came home one day from school with a sealed envelope. Meaning: "Dad, the principal asked...the principal, I don't want to say who...they asked me to pass this letter to you." I asked her: "What happened?""Did something happen?""Was there something at school?" She said: " No, they just asked to pass on..." And I open the letter, I see a nice letter addressed to me: "To the honorable public servant, our dear Rabbi Yaakov Asher"—I don't remember the title, deputy mayor or mayor, it doesn't matter— "we are reminding you that we are still missing these and those things, and if you could help us with the matter of this classroom, and all sorts of school needs." And everything is fine. My daughter gave it to me. In the evening, after she showed it to me, I called. To whom I called, and I said to them: "Look, I raise my children that when they come to school, she is not the daughter of Yaakov Asher, she is not the daughter of the deputy mayor , the mayor, or today the grandfather of a Knesset member,""And you""are sending such a thing with her?""It means she understands that you need her father! It means it's..." They said to me: "Wow, how right you are." >> But did you help them? >> In that matter, certainly, because in the end, you help with it, that's our job, that's what we need to do. I wasn't angry at them on a personal level, I mean, it was a good intention, but... >> You do see it with your children, no one uses... >> You know at least one of them, so they know, we don't...our Shabbat table isn't politics. I won't tell you that we go over the entire Shas during it, we talk about things, but it's not an issue. You are not people with bluer blood than anyone else, no. An*avrech* like you sitting with you in the*kollel *, and the*avrech*sitting next to you, and the one working with you, it’s all the same. You, us, it's not an issue. At home, I am a father and a grandfather, sometimes, and here credit really goes to the family and everything, because in the Haredi public, it is often common for things to reach your home, not once and not twice. There were also periods of... phone calls, calls that weren't the most...it's not from people, people usually...But no, we are first and foremost a father, we merit being a father, we merit being a grandfather, to educate the children as they should be. I don't like to expose my...my...my family and everything. I...there were a few things, uh, that were even public with the...with my son-in-law, who had a traffic accident, it was hard–the whole country knew before the wedding, and they wanted to interview my wife and they wanted to interview that. At home–I am a father and I am a grandfather, and my children are not blue-blooded in any way, shape, or form . God willing, when we meet here in another four years, uh, after an entire term–what needs to happen from your perspective for it to be considered a success? >> What needs to happen is that they take us off the grill, or that we take ourselves off this grill through our struggle, so that the world of Torah and the world of Yeshivas will not be in danger, and that we will be able to continue doing the things we also did this term. Many things for the benefit of the citizen, many things for the benefit of the Haredi citizen and the citizen in general, to give our public the quality of life and the rights they have. The right to be Haredi. I tell you, I’ve been through several election cycles, I connected to this slogan because, first, it’s a right to be a Haredi person. No one forced us to be a Haredi person. We were born into this, we are happy with it, and we are raising our children and grandchildren further in this way. And second of all, with all due respect, it is our right to be different from you. Who said that you are right? Who said? We know that we are right. Fine, I respect you; do with your children what you want, do with your, with your things what you want. We will stay here , We are staying Haredi, and we will stay in the world of Torah and prayer, only that they should let us work and not have us focus only on that all day, but we will overcome these harsh decrees, and I hope it will reach its goal. Sometimes when something becomes excessive, like the attitude of the state and the courts, the bureaucracy, it's not just the courts, it's officials and all those who waited, only when they start to exaggerate, that is the time it starts, it starts to go down, because then they realize, enough. I told them: You will not break us, you will not crush us, it will be harder for us, we will have more of this and less of that. >> 2,000 years they tried. >> Tried, how did I say to Yuli Edelstein? I said to him: At first when there was talk about the draft law, it was hard for me. I said to him, listen, what are you talking to me about, sanctions, things like that? You are an example of a Zionist who wasn't ready to change his life, his faith, and his worldview, and to say it out loud, you sat in prison for it, did they change you? No. So what, do you think it will work here ? We, I really hope that we will reach this point, that we will be equal citizens here. We are, we are bringing a team–both experienced and young, energetic and hungry for work. We will do all the things, we will learn, we will draw lessons from things that need lessons drawn, but we will bring the public peace and calm and give them the service, and we will give them the service of course with the right adjustments, with common sense, and of course, of course according to the Torah sages of Israel. We are not ashamed to say that when we have trouble we come to...we came to Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, of blessed and holy memory; everyone, the greatest doctors, lawyers, and accountants, who are Haredi men. They know that they come to the Torah giants of Israel to seek their advice and their blessing. We are not ashamed of it. We are different. We are others. They don't understand. Why are you going to ask for a blessing? Go to a doctor. Why are you going to a rabbi great? We need to walk with our heads held high, and we will walk with our heads held high, and we will march together and we will do it and we will do it. And four more years. Let’s set it from now, let's set it from now for four more years. I, with God's help, my friends and I—not me alone, of course —and with much Heavenly assistance, we will pay these things off, with God's help, for everyone's good. >> Rabbi Yaakov Asher, it is a privilege to be Haredi, a privilege to sit with Rabbi Yaakov Asher, and with God's help and in God's name, we will do and succeed. May God give you the strength to continue with all your might for the benefit of our sector, for the benefit of the Haredi sector. >> Sharp words, thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you, Dudi. >> More power to you, thank you very much.