From Spiritual Shepherd to Political Regent: Shas Under the Leadership of Aryeh Deri, 2013-2022

The 2022 Israeli national elections continued a series of elections that began with the 2019 municipal elections and were succeeded by four rounds of national elections. During this cycle of elections, the Shas campaign and mobilization apparatus improved to the point where the party once again achieved a Knesset showing in the double digits. Shas's political leader, Aryeh Deri, gained greater prominence and developed a unique leadership model that I call “political regency.” A regent is a temporary political ruler. He or she generally fulfills a political function in a framework where power is traditionally passed on dynastically, as in a monarchy. Deri controlled the party's sociology, and the reconnection of most of its disparate parts. Thus, he became a figure as a political “shepherd,” active in the space between the movement and the party, between the sector and the state. This was not an instantaneous development but rather a decade-long process in which Israel's frequent elections transformed from a worrisome challenge into a sharpened tool for Shas's reconstruction. The 2022 elections seemed to bring this process to its apex but may also have delineated its boundaries concerning Shas and Deri's status.