Shas Video Promising Blessings for Votes Raises Legal Concerns

The Shas party has released a video featuring the prominent kabbalist Rabbi Baruch Abuhatzeira, known as the "Baba Baruch," calling on the public to vote for the party and promising blessings and salvations to those who do so. The video appears to violate the explicit prohibition in the Knesset Elections Law against soliciting voters by promising blessings, a rule that the Central Election Committee has previously enforced against Shas itself.

In the video, the rabbi recounts that he consulted with his late father, Rabbi Israel Abuhatzeira, known as the "Baba Sali," regarding the upcoming elections. According to him, his father instructed him to continue supporting Shas, as he has done throughout the years. "Every step I take, if I do not receive permission from my holy father of blessed memory, I do not take it," the rabbi stated.

The rabbi justified his support for the party based on two main reasons: its activities on behalf of the children of Israel and the public as a whole, and its leadership. However, later in the video, the rabbi went beyond merely calling for a vote, explicitly promising blessings to anyone who casts a ballot for the party. "I promise everyone who votes for Shas—my holy father told me: Everyone who votes, whatever you tell him, I promise him all salvations, all blessings, and all the good written in our holy Torah," he said.

The Legal Prohibition on Blessing Promises

The Knesset Elections Law strictly prohibits soliciting a person to vote or refrain from voting through the promise of a blessing. The Central Election Committee has previously clarified that "lists are forbidden from soliciting voters by promising a blessing or distributing amulets." The video published by Shas contains the two core elements that form the basis of this legal prohibition: an explicit call to vote for the party and the promise of blessings for doing so.