Meretz's new MK brings fresh blood to the changing party, from a surprising direction

By SHELLY PAZ
Veteran Meretz MKs Yossi Beilin and Ran Cohen, who both announced their retirement from politics last week, will leave behind a huge gap in Meretz, which is drawing speculation regarding the left-wing party's future. This gap is to be partially filled by ultra-Orthodox left-wing activist Dr. Tzvia Greenfield, who finds it surprising to hear that there are people who consider Beilin and Cohen's retirement a worrying sign. "Clearly, this is a significant loss - when any distinguished and important persona decides to leave political life because they feel they want to do other things," Greenfield told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. "Nevertheless, this will allow new blood to enter Meretz, and I think [the] interesting and diverse forces that will join Meretz will contribute to the party's vivaciousness and make the party more attractive to young voters from new sectors," she added. Greenfield, who was born in Jerusalem, currently resides in the capital's haredi neighborhood of Har Nof. She is the mother of five grown children and is married to an American pediatrician, with whom she lived in the US for a number of years. She was raised in a haredi home and attended a Beit Ya'acov school. She attended the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, completing her doctoral degree in political philosophy there in 2005. She has been engaged in political and social activities since the early 90s, when she established the Mifne Institute for Democracy and Cultural Identity, which is active within Israel's haredi community. She is also one of the founders of "Religious Women for the Sanctity of Life," a movement that later worked with the "Four Mothers," which called for the withdrawal of IDF from Lebanon. She is also a member of the board of directors of the B'tselem human rights organization, as well as a supporter of the Geneva Accord, an unofficial peace proposal aimed at solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Greenfield is also the author of Cosmic Fear: the Rise of the Religious Right in Israel, published by Yediot Aharonot in 2001, in which she criticized the right-wing haredi sector for its attempts to bring about the failure of Zionism and the state of Israel, for which she was greatly condemned by - and, some say, expelled from - the haredi community. She was elected sixth on Meretz's Knesset list by 700 of Meretz's 1,000 central committee members, and is to replace Yossi Beilin following his retirement. Greenfield explained to the Post why a religious woman would join a left-wing party. "Meretz is an Israeli civilian party and is not defined necessarily as secular, but it is true that in general secular people support this agenda. Usually haredim think they should support their own agenda, which is saddening and, I believe, also damaging to Israeli society," Greenfield said. "I believe in equal rights and in the right of each person to live by his values, and this is why I [will] join the Knesset with Meretz. I think this is an unprecedented accomplishment, not just for me, but also for Meretz," she added. Greenfield said she was proud of the Meretz members running for the Knesset. "This list includes truly impressive people who have good hearts and who really want to cure Israeli society in all aspects. I think this party will present an energetic gallery of people for the next Knesset," she said. Meretz chairman MK Haim Oron doesn't sound worried either, and sees the retirement of Beilin and Cohen as a natural, even noble, development. "There is no doubt that both Yossi and Ran were central characters in the Knesset and publicly but they also set an example, even if their decisions were made for personal reasons, for generation exchange," Oron told the Post.