A new crisis has erupted between the Ashkenazi and Sephardi ultra-Orthodox over the usual bones of contention: racism, money, and politics. The quarrel resulted Monday in Shas announcing its resignation from the religious lobby in the Knesset.

The current round began when Shas' spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, saw a cartoon in Yeted Ne'eman, the flagship journal of Degel HaTorah, the "Lithuanian wing" of the Ashkenazi Haredim.

The cartoon showed a man dressed in shorts and sandals wearing a skullcap and trimmed black beard, representing a Shas follower, in cahoots with a secular person representing Kadima. Wearing a big grin, the two were dumping a rock labeled "2008 cuts" on the head of a Haredi man.

The symbols appear obvious, lacking sophistication, and according to Shas, loaded with anti-Semitism and racism of the sort Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox feel about Sephardi Haredim. MK Yakov Margi, chairman of the Shas faction in the Knesset, said Ovadia Yosef was deeply offended.

"He saw the caricature and protested strongly, telling us to respond very strongly," Margi said. The response came Monday, with Shas announcing its resignation from the religious lobby in the Knesset, which is headed by United Torah Judaism.

"Degel HaTorah and its journal Yeted Ne'eman have set out as policy to continue racism and hatred of Sephardim," the faction said in a statement. "For the first time an anti-Semitic cartoon that would not have shamed any anti-Semitic paper in the world was published. The Degel HaTorah leadership must rid itself from its hatred for Sephardim, from its patronizing attitude for the Sephardi community, which was its habit before the establishment of Shas."

In its statement Shas was portrayed as "saving the world of the Torah" and vowed to do so without the assistance of MKs "who hate the Sephardim and Mizrahim." Behind this confrontation lies a struggle over the 2008 state budget, which is expected to allot NIS 310.6 million to religious institutions, compared with NIS 692.2 million a year earlier.

Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox journals, representing groups that are not part of the governing coalition, began a joint attack, unprecedented in its fervor, against Shas, which is part of the coalition.

But Shas maintains that the conflict lies elsewhere. They point to their decision to support a Hasidic candidate as mayor in Beitar, an ultra-Orthodox city, against the Lithuanian candidate.

Still, United Torah Judaism, the Knesset party representing the two mainly Ashkenazi Haredi groups, insists that the 2008 budget is the crux of the argument.

"I don't see why a cartoon is necessary when the real picture is much worse," said MK Yakov Litzman, chairman of UTJ. "I am surprised to hear that they are leaving the religious lobby. I expected them to leave the government," quipped MK Moshe Gafni, another member of UTJ.

Litzman acknowledged that there is bickering every year over the budget, but he charged Shas with "disgracing us."

"The budget for yeshivas was NIS 82.5 million last year and all of a sudden it is NIS 4 million," he said. "Do you have any other explanation for this except humiliation for the Haredim? Shas does not have so many yeshivas ... and in any case they will take care of themselves [from inside the government]."

Margi rejects these claims. "Do they think we are their employees? Rabbi Ovadia Yosef told us, after he saw the cartoon, that we were to announce in no uncertain terms that Shas is staying in the coalition in order to preserve the world of the Torah."

Copyright Ha'aretz News 2007