# Religious Torah Front
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{{confuse|Religious Front|United Religious Front}}
{{Infobox political party
| logo = Religious Torah Front.svg{{!}}class=skin-invert
| logo_size = 100
| symbol = {{Script/Hebrew|גד}}
| colorcode = {{party color|Religious Torah Front}}
| split = [Agudat Yisrael](/source/Agudat_Yisrael)
[Poalei Agudat Yisrael](/source/Poalei_Agudat_Yisrael)
| merged = [Agudat Yisrael](/source/Agudat_Yisrael)
[Poalei Agudat Yisrael](/source/Poalei_Agudat_Yisrael)
| seats1_title = Most MKs
| seats1 = {{nowrap|6 (1955,1959)}}
| foundation = 1955 (first incarnation)
1973 (second incarnation)
| country = Israel
| dissolved = 1961 (first incarnation)
1977 (second incarnation)
| native_name = {{Script/Hebrew|חזית דתית תורתית}}
}}
The '''Religious Torah Front''' ({{langx|he|חזית דתית תורתית}}, ''Hazit Datit Toratit'') was a [political alliance](/source/List_of_political_parties_in_Israel) in [Israel](/source/Israel) composed of [Agudat Yisrael](/source/Agudat_Yisrael) and [Poalei Agudat Yisrael](/source/Poalei_Agudat_Yisrael).
==History==
The Religious Torah Front was formed when the [Ultra-orthodox](/source/Haredi_Judaism) parties [Agudat Yisrael](/source/Agudat_Yisrael) and [Poalei Agudat Yisrael](/source/Poalei_Agudat_Yisrael) decided to contest the [1955 elections](/source/1955_Israeli_legislative_election) on a joint list.
In the election the party won 4.7% of the vote and six seats, an improvement on the 3.6% (five seats) won by the parties individually in the [1951 elections](/source/1951_Israeli_legislative_election), but were not included in [David Ben-Gurion](/source/David_Ben-Gurion)'s coalition government. During the Knesset session the party changed its name to '''Agudat Yisrael - Poalei Agudat Yisrael'''. However, they changed it back to Religious Torah Front before the [1959 elections](/source/1959_Israeli_legislative_election).
In the 1959 ballot, the party again won 4.7% of the vote and six seats but remained outside the government. Due to internal disagreements, the party split into its constituent parts before the [1961 elections](/source/1961_Israeli_legislative_election), with Agudat Yisrael taking four of the six seats and Poalei Agudat Yisrael the other two.
The party was reformed for the [1973 elections](/source/1973_Israeli_legislative_election), in which it won 3.8% of the vote and five seats. Despite its poor showing, the party was the fourth largest in a [Knesset](/source/Knesset) dominated by the [Alignment](/source/Alignment_(political_party)) (51 seats) and [Likud](/source/Likud) (39 seats). During this time, the party was opposed to attempts to introduce comprehensive [civil rights](/source/civil_rights) legislation, and was particularly shocked with attempts to formally enshrining [religious freedom](/source/religious_freedom) into a potential constitution.[{{Cite journal|last=Sager|first=Samuel|date=1976|title=Israel's Dilatory Constitution|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/839169|journal=The American Journal of Comparative Law|volume=24|issue=1|pages=98|doi=10.2307/839169|jstor=839169 |issn=0002-919X|url-access=subscription}}] In any event, the party split once again during this Knesset session, with Agudat Yisrael taking three seats and Poalei Agudat Yisrael two. Agudat Israel eventually caused the government to fall at the end of 1976 by bringing a [motion of no-confidence](/source/motion_of_no-confidence) after the [Israeli Air Force](/source/Israeli_Air_Force) had breached the [Sabbath](/source/Shabbat).
In 1977, the party split once again and this time it was final.[{{Cite journal|last=Peretz|first=Don|date=1977|title=The Earthquake: Israel's Ninth Knesset Elections|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4325643|journal=Middle East Journal|volume=31|issue=3|pages=259|jstor=4325643 |issn=0026-3141}}]
==Knesset members==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
!Knesset
(MKs)
!Knesset Members
|-
|[3rd](/source/1955_Israeli_legislative_election)
(6)
|style="text-align:left"|[Zalman Ben-Ya'akov](/source/Zalman_Ben-Ya'akov), [Kalman Kahana](/source/Kalman_Kahana), [Ya'akov Katz](/source/Ya'akov_Katz_(politician_born_1906)), [Yitzhak-Meir Levin](/source/Yitzhak-Meir_Levin), [Shlomo Lorincz](/source/Shlomo_Lorincz), [Binyamin Mintz](/source/Binyamin_Mintz)
|-
|[4th](/source/1959_Israeli_legislative_election)
(6)
|style="text-align:left"|Kalman Kahana, Ya'akov Katz, Yitzhak-Meir Levin, Shlomo Lorincz, Binyamin Mintz, [Menachem Porush](/source/Menachem_Porush)
|-
|[8th](/source/1973_Israeli_legislative_election)
(5)
|style="text-align:left"|[Yehuda Meir Abramowicz](/source/Yehuda_Meir_Abramowicz), Kalman Kahana, Shlomo Lorincz, Menachem Porush (replaced by [Shlomo-Jacob Gross](/source/Shlomo-Jacob_Gross)), [Avraham Verdiger](/source/Avraham_Verdiger)
|-
|}
==References==
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
*[https://www.knesset.gov.il/faction/eng/FactionPage_eng.asp?PG=61 Religious Torah Front] Knesset website
{{Israeli political parties}}
Category:Defunct political party alliances in Israel
Category:Orthodox Jewish political parties
Category:Political parties established in 1955
Category:Agudat Yisrael
Category:1955 establishments in Israel
Category:Political parties disestablished in 1977
Category:1977 disestablishments in Israel
---
Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Religious Torah Front](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Torah_Front) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_Torah_Front?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.