Rav Elyashiv began his Rabbinic career as a judge in the government's religious court system, and was a protégé of Israel's Ashkenazi chief rabbi, Yitzhak HaLevi Herzog. In the early 1970s, he left the state court system. In 1989, upon the establishment of the religious political party Degel HaTorah, its spiritual leader Rav Elazar Shach asked Rav Elyashiv to join in the public leadership, and he acceded to his request. He came to the major public gatherings of Degel HaTorah, currently part of the umbrella United Torah Judaism list in the Israeli Knesset (parliament), and shared in the task of rendering decisions. While Rav Elyashiv held no official title, neither as head of a congregation, yeshiva, or particular community, after the death of Rav Shach he took his position and held great influence over the policies of the party, which abided by all his rulings and instructions. Most rosh yeshivas ("yeshiva deans") associated with the Agudath Israel of America movement frequently sought out his opinions and followed his advice and guidelines concerning a wide array of policy and communal issues affecting the welfare of Orthodox Judaism. Time referred to Rav Elyashiv as the predecessor of Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman as Gadol Hador ("leader of the generation"). Yossi Elituv, editor of the influential ultra-Orthodox paper Mishpacha, remarked: "Rav Elyashiv will be remembered as the ultimate assiduous yeshiva scholar of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He was not seen as a political leader or as the head of group or party. He was a man who made Torah study his entire life, and this will remain an inspiration." In 2010, Rav Elyashiv published a letter criticizing the Shas Party for joining the World Zionist Organization (WZO). He wrote that the Party "is turning its back on the basics of Charedi Jewry of the past hundred years. In the words of Gedolei Yisroel: 'Zu Neveilah she’ein kamosa'." He compared this move to the decision of the Mizrachi movement to join the WZO [over one hundred years ago] which was the deciding factor in their separation from "authentic Torah Judaism." Published works The Halakhic rulings and sermonic insights of Rav Elyashiv have been recorded in several books. The 6 volume Kovetz Teshuvos Elyashiv contains responsa resulting from questions asked of him over many years. Many of his ethical and sermonic comments on the Torah, most dating from the 1950s, were collected and published