Overview
- Dr. Nechumi Yaffe joined HaTzibur HaCharedi’s slate on Monday, September 7, 2026, and will run in the 26th Knesset as the first woman placed on a haredi party list running in Knesset elections.
- Yaffe is a 50-year-old Jerusalem resident and mother of three who works in political psychology as a senior faculty member at Tel Aviv University and spent the past year on a Harvard research project about the haredi community.
- She served as a special adviser on haredi affairs to Israel’s National Security Council in 2020 with a focus on poverty, and after the October 7 attacks she founded a haredi emergency response center that mobilized tens of thousands of volunteers to aid evacuees and bereaved families.
- Moti Leitner, speaking for HaTzibur HaCharedi, publicly welcomed Yaffe’s entry and highlighted her more than 30 years in education and academia as fitting the party’s effort to assume public responsibility.
- Her placement signals a possible shift in haredi politics by creating a precedent for alternative parties to emphasize policy expertise and community service, and observers will watch whether other haredi lists follow this model and how voters respond.