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Feb. 7, 2005 12:38 | Updated Feb. 7, 2005 18:40 Elyashiv, Barak support referendum By GIL HOFFMAN, NINA GILBERT, YAAKOV KATZ Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv Photo: Hatzolah Jerusalem Degel Hatorah's preeminent halachic authority Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv said Monday that he would support the Disengagement Implementation Bill if it includes a national referendum. Elyashiv's statement comes a day after the Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee spent a day heatedly debating making the bill contingent upon the results of a national referendum, as long it goes hand in hand with a new basic law limiting such a referendum to relinquishing...

Jan. 11, 2005 18:32 | Updated Jan. 11, 2005 22:18 UTJ splits over rabbinical spat By MATI WAGNER A dispute over rabbinic allegiances tore apart on Tuesday Lithuanian Degel HaTorah and hassidic Agudat Yisrael, the two parties making up United Torah Judaism (UTJ). The preeminent halachic authority of the Lithuanian haredi community, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, ordered the Degel HaTorah Mks, Moshe Gafni and Rabbi Avraham Ravitz to split themselves from the three Agudah Yisrael Mks. Gafni and Ravitz placed the blame for the split squarely on the shoulders of MK Ya'acov Litzman of the hassidic Agudat Yisrael, who accepted...