Jerusalem, 7 September, 2026 (TPS-IL) — Dr. Nehumi Yaffe, a Haredi researcher, is joining the HaTzibur HaHaredi party and will run for the 26th Knesset in second place. She is the first woman to join the Knesset slate of a Haredi party.
The Haredi community is generally deeply conservative.
Yaffe, 50, is a mother of three. She specializes in political psychology and spent the past year at Harvard University researching the Haredi community. She is also a senior faculty member and researcher at Tel Aviv University.
In 2020, Yaffe became a special adviser on Haredi affairs to the National Security Council, where she focused on poverty. After the October 7 massacre, she founded a Haredi emergency response center that mobilized tens of thousands of volunteers to help evacuees and bereaved families.
However, the new party faces a major challenge. Recent polls give HaTzibur HaHaredi only 1.2% to 1.5% of the vote, well below the electoral threshold.