A radicalization of Haredi fatalist theology: Rabbi E.M.M. Shach’s public addresses, 1988–1991

In 1990, Rabbi Eliezer Shach was in a position to impact the future of the National Unity Government. His pivotal speech, which came to be known as the “Rabbits Address,” triggered intense debates and led to the failure of the “stinking manoeuvre,” after which Ashkenazi Haredi (Ultraorthodox) parties were unwilling to align with the Left–a development that has significantly altered coalition dynamics in Israel ever since. It is maintained here that the video recording of that speech and other events possess great scholarly value and offer a window into late-twentieth-century Mitnagdic thought and the sector’s self-perception. A performative analysis of video-texts suggests “potent fatalism” as one source of the religious-ideological appeal of Haredism. Compared to his earlier writings, these speeches mark a radicalization of the fatalist component of his theology and ideology; they promote a faith-based fatalism at the expense of human agency within the limits of Divine providence. His rejection of a coalition with the dovish Left was predicated on historical tensions, not foreign policy or security concerns. These findings suggest contemporary Haredi political alignment with the hawkish right is a tacit rejection of Shach's fatalism.