Last election Rav Shteinman allegedly paskened a chiyuv on every G-d-fearing Jew to vote Gimmel, which placed me in a dilemma, because Rav Ovadia Yosef had already allegedly promised me a chelek in Olam HaBa for voting Shas. And the previous elections I knew that voting for Rav Kaduri ZTzL's flash-in-the-pan party would bring me such unbelievable segulos for mazal, brocha and hatzlocha - how could I not vote for them?
So now I'm reading the comments on Rafi Goldmeier's Life In Israel blog about how these Rabbis say not to vote for Tov, but others say it's OK, while another bunch privately endorse Tov but feel they can't come out publicly and tell anyone to vote for anyone other than Gimmel.
Marei d'chulei alma! What is this narishkeit?! You have a group of good, koshere Yidden who want to influence the city in a positive direction - but you are paralyzed and unable to exercise your own judgement until the Rebbe has told you what to do! Do you not have a brain of your own? Are you simply a robot who will not act without input from The All Knowing Rabbis? Do you also check with the Rebbe what color granite to use in your new kitchen, or what brand of printer you should buy for your home office?
Yes, there are halachic considerations, and for this the Rabbonim are there to advise us on whether or not Caesar Stone can be kashered for Pesach - but beyond that, the choice is yours as to what color scheme you want to use in the kitchen. Likewise the requirements for someone to be chosen for public office are matters of halacha - and it seems to me that the slates of several parties competing in the Beit Shemesh municipal elections conform perfectly to halacha. In no particular order, the lists of Gimmel, Shas, Beyachad (Mafdal), Chen and Tov all consist entirely of upright, koshere Yidden who are all at least halachically qualified for office, and even the Likud list could arguably fit the definition.
Given that you have a halachically acceptable range of at least five or six choices, it's up to you to decide who will represent your interests best in the city council. Whom do you trust most? Who do you think will be most effective? Whose agenda do you agree with?
Asking the Rabbi for instructions on decisions like this looks like piety, but IMO it is a willful abdication of responsibility. Life is so much simpler if you don't have to make tough decisions yourself and you just leave it up to the Rabbi. Then after 120 years if HKBH asks you, "Why did/didn't you do such-and-such?" you can simply shrug and say, "I just did what my Rebbe told me." And if your Rebbe was wrong or misinformed (am I allowed to suggest such a thing?) you expect that Hashem will say, "Oh well, that's all right, then, I'll punish him instead. You move along to your chelek in Olam Haba now."
I don't believe in self-abnegation and abdication of responsibility; I believe in self-esteem and accountability. Hashem gave us faculties of rational thought, not so that we could delegate our thinking to others, but so that we could use it to understand His Torah and apply it to our daily lives. If we realize that we do not know enough to make an informed halachic decision (and that happens plenty to me!) then we are forced to turn to someone else whom we trust and who is likely to be able to advise us correctly. That's the role of the Rabbi - your trusted spiritual advisor whose advice you rely on to make sure that your Olam Haba is safe. But ultimately, whether or not you choose to follow his advice, only you are accountable for your actions, and after 120 years you will not have your Rabbi shielding you from the Heavenly court; it's just you, your mitzvos, and your non-mitzvos.
I asked one of my trusted spiritual guides recently, "How do I know whom to trust as a spiritual guide?"
His answer, in short, was, "It's very difficult... but I will tell you one thing: if anyone uses the phrases 'Daas Torah' or 'The Gedolim Say' - run a mile! Run a mile, because these are conversation stoppers used by insecure people to squash debate."
There's a lot more space to develop on this theme, but I'll leave it for a later blog entry IY"H. Meanwhile I think I'll hang a Chen poster next to the Shalom Lerner ones on my mirpeset. If I burn in hell for not voting Gimmel, at least it's because that was my choice.
