Rabbi Brig. Gen. (res.) Rafi Peretz has served as an IAF helicopter pilot, buried five of his students who were killed in a terrorist attack, been uprooted from his home in the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip and taught thousands of religious Zionist students. After all that, at age 63, he finds himself surrounded by spokespeople and PR staff.
Peretz, or "Rabbi Rafi" as he is nicknamed, answered a call to the colors from Habayit Hayehudi to lead the party and save it from political death after Education Minister Naftali Bennett and Justice Ayelet Shaked abandoned it. The departure of the party co-leaders left it in trouble and for days religious Zionist leaders tried to find someone highly enough esteemed to be acceptable to everyone, who would also be willing to take on the task of leading a party whose stock was plummeting.
Everyone understood the potential in Peretz – an educator, a pilot, head of a pre-military preparatory program and also a former IDF chief rabbi. And as a bonus, he is of Mizrahi background, an answer to claims of an Ashkenazi religious Zionist elite.
"I don't feel like I was brought in as a fig leaf. The fact that I'm Sephardi only adds color to the picture," he quickly says. Peretz currently lives in Holot Halutza in the Negev. He is married to Michal, has 12 children. He prefers not to count his grandchildren, to keep the evil eye away. In short, Habayit Hayehudi found the man they were looking for.
'I got there and saw destruction'
Peretz was born to a Moroccan family that was traditional rather than religious. He studied at Netiv Meir Yeshiva. After completing his army service as a helicopter pilot, he decided to study for the rabbinate at Merkaz Harav Kook. Twelve years later, he and his family moved to the Gush Katif settlement Atzmona, where he established the Otzem pre-military preparatory academy, which is highly regarded by the religious Zionist public.
The preparatory academy was also the site of a terrible terrorist attack, which still haunts him. In March 2002, a terrorist broke in, murdered five students and left 23 wounded.
"I remember it like it happened just now. It's one of the toughest things I've ever been through in my life. A terrorist burst into the classroom with a Kalachnikov, nine magazines and grenades and just opened fire. We were shattered," he recalls.
"That same evening, I was performing the wedding ceremony of an orphan kid in Jerusalem. One of the staff called me and said 'something happened at the academy.' I told my wife I had a bad feeling. We got into the car and drove back. It was the hardest trip I've ever taken. Two hours on the road, the entire time parents were calling and I didn't know what was going on. I was telling them I was on the way and I'd keep them posted. One of the staff called and said there were casualties. I got closer and saw ambulances coming in the other direction. Parents were shouting over the phone, breaking down, crying, 'My child is gone.' Very painful.
"When I got there, I saw destruction. Blood everywhere, in the rooms, all the guys in shock, sitting in corners – they were just 18-year-old kids. Awful. It affected the rest of my life.
"That evening I gathered all the boys. I don't know how the Lord gave me the strength. I told them, 'Tomorrow we all need to go to the funerals and console [the families] and mourn and then we need to find more strength.' After that, I called in all the staff and said that our job was not to investigate what had happened and who was at fault, that in the morning we would move on," Peretz says.
Four years after the tragedy at the pre-military academy, another blow fell – the disengagement and the evacuation of the Gush Katif settlements.
"After we got back on our feet and picked up the pieces, that 'boom' came," Peretz says. He instructed his students not to fight the soldiers who were carrying out the evictions, but rather to hug them and leave quietly. Now, as leader of Habayit Hayehudi, some are criticizing him for not taking more aggressive action against the disengagement. He rejects the criticism, saying, "You're at the academy, building the guys into loyal soldiers of the IDF, to be citizens who contribute to the country. And then a situation arrives in which a soldier, who could have been a student of mine, comes to evict me. What am I supposed to so? Not embrace him? And what would I do with the students? Not embrace them? I fought for our home with all my strength. But when one hand is fighting the other, you stop. It's called a war between brothers. When something like that could happen, everything stops. We're one nation – even at the price of my home being destroyed."
After the disengagement and the consequent rift it created between religious Zionism and the army, Peretz was recruited as chief rabbi of the IDF.
Q: What was the most significant event for you as chief rabbi?
"The deaths of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul [in Operation Protective Edge in 2014]. I've never been through something of that magnitude. It was an enormous strategic incident that I had to handle. As a rabbi, I needed to confront a matter of national interest, know what to take into account and that's what we did."
Q: It was your decision to declare them dead.
"Correct. I sat day and night with the country's best experts in medicine and every relevant field and I told them, 'We will leave only after we find an answer.' I'm also the one who informed the families. I had no reservations at all when we made the decision to declare them dead. I do feel that I left the army with a heavy feeling of not having completed the mission. Our dear fallen soldiers Goldin and Shaul, haven't come home. It weighs me down. I love the families. I feel like a commander who didn't carry out his mission to the end. I'm happy to return to the political stage and I promised the families I would take care of the issue… It's my remaining mission, to bring the boys home."
Language everyone can understand
Peretz admits he's far from a political animal and that he is somewhat surprised that he entered politics. "I ask myself what business I have in politics, what do I have to do with how the Knesset runs itself. I love education, I love making kids into good soldiers, good citizens. I was blessed to be able to do that."
Q: So why, then?
"I couldn't stand up to the pressure. There's a point at which you realize that there's a calling, which if you don't answer, you won't be able to look yourself in the face. I don't want to sound like I'm the latest savior of the people, but a lot of public figures approached me – rabbis, friends – and said 'You can't refuse.' Religious Zionism cannot fall into a crisis. They said, 'You can help things.'"
Q: In the past few days, there has been criticism that, unlike Bennett, you belong to the conservative national-haredi wing of religious Zionism, which is less of a fit for Habayit Heyehudi.
"The core of my work at the academy is with amazing families from Ra'anana, Kfar Saba, Givat Shmuel and other places considered less conservative. In the army, I encountered everyone – moshavniks, kibbutzniks, observant, secular – all without differentiating on the basis of religious, race, or sex. My language speaks to everyone. I'm the mainstream of religious Zionism. I feel like I'm a product of it."
In the current election cycle, there has been constant talk about possible party mergers on both the Right and the Left. This week, Peretz met with chairman of the National Union party, MK Bezalel Smotrich, to talk about a merger. According to those in the know, Peretz suggested they co-lead a joint list but asked to be the chairman and senior minister in any joint party. Smotrich wants control to be split evenly.
"He's a dear friend and I'm sure that we'll find a way to go on together. It's natural for us to run together, I want to. We need to sit down about the details and, with respect and appreciation, find the best ways of continuing as partners. We've put together a team and I hope that next week, we'll see results," Peretz says.
Q: Would you have a problem with the No. 2 spot?
"Personally, I don't have a problem with anything. I didn't come with a personal agenda. Habayit Hayehudi is a 150-year-old entity with roots in the Mizrahi movement. … I think we need to find good ways to run together."
Q: Will [the far-right] Otzma Yehudit also be part of a merger?
"The core of my life is Israeli governance. I'm in the mainstream as far as attitude and respect for the country and its laws. I will never disparage those things. An attack on that is an attack on me. Anyone who's with me is welcome. I won't run with anyone who is not with me on this. Right now we're on parallel paths, not paths that meet."
The education portfolio
In his first speech as chairman of Habayit Hayehudi, Peretz attacked Bennett and Shaked, saying that they had "used the party and left." He isn't taking back his harsh words.
"I thought it was appropriate to mention that in the speech. Personally, Naftali is a friend of mine. We've talked. We're brothers. My brother did something that I disagree with, but I'm still his brother. We aren't Likud 2. Habayit Hayehudi is a glorious movement based on belief. Any prime minister would be happy to have Habayit Hayehudi [in the coalition]."
Q: Would you sit in a coalition with Bennett and Shaked?
"Happily. Even though I have criticism about certain things like religion and state and that is mainly what makes the New Right different from Habayit Hayehudi."
Q: What about public transportation on Shabbat?
"In my opinion, the state of Israel needs to uphold [religious] tradition. Personally, I have nothing to say about it. Everyone should do as they see fit and I'll respect that."
Q: Civil marriage?
"If there is civil marriage, I wouldn't be able to marry my daughter to the son of a friend from my flight squadron. Heaven forbid we get to that point. I'm willing to die and risk myself with him to save the country, but our children not being able to be married according to Jewish law? Within two generations it would happen. We have a national responsibility to this people, to tradition."
Q: Supermarkets open on Shabbat?
"Personally, I don't want it, from a religious and a humanitarian standpoint. I tell people – take a day off, be at home with your family, with the kids."
Q: Where do you stand on issues like single-sex couples having families or LGBTQ rights?
"I respect everyone as a person. I don't tell people, 'You're out of bounds,' don't put them down. But nationally, we need to know that a Jewish home is a special one with a man and woman who create the next generations. I think that is how it should be, but I'll personally respect anyone who decides otherwise."
Q: What portfolio do you want in the next government?
"I'm an educator. I've done it for years. I want Israeli children to be educated in Israeli values. I think that Habayit Hayehudi has said that for years. That's my natural place."
Throughout his service as chief rabbi, Peretz worked closely with then-IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz.
"I spent dozens of hours with him. We flew together, we went places together, he is a charming person, all good. Considerate, gentle," Peretz says.
"He ran Operation Protective Edge wonderfully. He did excellent work, that's the truth. He was a good chief of staff – he was very careful with our movement, very careful with people's lives. As a senior army officer during Protective Edge, I never felt like the army was directionless. It felt good. The forces knew what to do."
Q: What is your position about sitting in a government under a prime minister who is being investigated?
"As long as he can legally continue to serve, I'll be alongside him."
