Degel HaTorah

Degel HaTorah (or Degel haTorah) (דגל התורה Hebrew for "Flag/Banner [of] the Torah") is an Israeli mostly Ashkenazi Haredi Judaism political party with a small number of seats (2-3) in the Knesset, Israel's national parliament.

Degel HaTorah represents the "Lithuanian wing" of the non-Hasidic Haredim (known by some as "Mitnagdim") as opposed to the Hasidic dominated Agudat Israel party. Sometimes, the parties compete against each other, at other times they join forces within a political alliance called United Torah Judaism (UTJ) (Yahadut HaTorah in Hebrew).

In the Twelfth Knesset, Degel HaTorah received two Knesset seats and joined the National Unity government without a portfolio. In the elections to the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Knessets, the party ran on the joint list called United Torah Judaism with Agudat Israel. Toward the elections for the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Knessets, they split into their separate parties in order to benefit from separate party financing.

The Degel HaTorah party was founded as an independent party by Rabbi Elazar Shach in 1988 splintering off from Agudat Israel because of policy disputes with the Hasidic rebbes within Agudat Israel which had been the only party for all Ashkenazi Haredi Jews in Israel. The party's name, "Flag of the Torah", was a contrasting reference to the flag of the state of Israel, associated with the secular lifestyle and culture that Haredi society sharply disagreed with. Rabbi Shach died in 2001.

Degel HaTorah's rabbinical arbiter (posek) as of 2006 is nonagenarian Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv of Jerusalem. The two Chairmen of Degel haTorah's Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah are Rabbi Eliashiv and Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman.

In 2005, Degel HaTorah was part of the coalition government of Prime Minister of Israel Ariel Sharon.

The party currently has two seats in the 17th Knesset (elected 2006).

See also

• Agudat Israel
• Agudath Israel of America
• Haredi Judaism
• Hasidim and Mitnagdim
• United Torah Judaism
• World Agudath Israel