The Religious Torah Front was formed when the
Ultra-orthodox parties
Agudat Yisrael and
Poalei Agudat Yisrael decided to contest the
1955 elections on a joint list. In the election the party won 4.7% of the vote and six seats, an improvement on the 3.6% (five seats) won by the parties individually in the
1951 elections, but were not included in
David Ben-Gurion's coalition government. During the Knesset session the party changed its name to
Agudat Yisrael - Poalei Agudat Yisrael. However, they changed it back to Religious Torah Front before the
1959 elections. In the 1959 ballot, the party again won 4.7% of the vote and six seats but remained outside the government. Due to internal disagreements, the party split into its constituent parts before the
1961 elections, with Agudat Yisrael taking four of the six seats and Poalei Agudat Yisrael the other two. The party was reformed for the
1973 elections, in which it won 3.8% of the vote and five seats. Despite its poor showing, the party was the fourth largest in a
Knesset dominated by the
Alignment (51 seats) and
Likud (39 seats). During this time, the party was opposed to attempts to introduce comprehensive
civil rights legislation, and was particularly shocked with attempts to formally enshrining
religious freedom into a potential constitution. In any event, the party split once again during this Knesset session, with Agudat Yisrael taking three seats and Poalei Agudat Yisrael two. Agudat Israel eventually caused the government to fall at the end of 1976 by bringing a
motion of no-confidence after the
Israeli Air Force had breached the
Sabbath. In 1977, the party split once again and this time it was final. ==Knesset members==