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.
12 comments:
that should be the worst thing I burn in hell for...
it happens to be that being in a position or communal responsibility, the Rabbanim are well aware of what is going on behind the scenes in the community, much more than the average layman, baalebus, or avrech.
some posses an understanding of politics more than others, but all re tuned in to the needs of the community and it's problems more than the average Joe. (unfortunately, in a community striving for spiritual attainment and trying to raise frum ehrliche families, the most important issues that come up are far greater than the trash collection schedule.)
therefore, the rabbanim are best positioned to know what issues are to be tackled and in what order and who is reliable to take up the task.
a casual observer of a bank will not be the person to decide on bank policy or who should get promotions.
when issues of chinuch , schooling, sholom bayis, machlokes (whether personal or between factions), religious infrastructure (mikvaaos, shuls, eiruvin, etc.) come up, it is not the common resident or even the local politicians who are brought these issues, rather the rabbonim. thus to say that you know more than them how to run a community is an absurd and ignorant opinion.
this is in technical terms.
let alone the general hashkafic issue that the more someone is based and well versed in torah and has clarity in delving into deep halachic topics, he has the ability to cut through the rhetoric and see straight to the point of mundane living. this, together with a true talmid chachom's ability to put his own biases aside more consistently than the average Joe, provides him with the tool to make such decisions much clearer and accurately than common folk
at least make it a TOV sign :)
"together with a true talmid chachom's ability to put his own biases aside more consistently than the average Joe,"
But how many of the "big" local rabbonim can actually do this?
Every Rav in this community knows what Lema'an Achai does for this city and yet certain names were obviously missing from lema'an Achai's Rabbinical list.
I asked LA and was told that there are a few Rabbonim who will not put their name to Lema'an Achai although members of the Rav's shul receive help.
To me this double standard shows that not every talmid chochum can put aside personal bias.
Anonymous-
I don't see the double standard.
Just because someone in his shul is helped does not mean a Rav has to support an organization.
1-He might like another organization better.
2-(Please don't fixate on this answer)
It's not worth the consequences of supporting LA.
LA is a great organization,(and really special staff).
But for some reason there are elements who don't like it.
Does this hypothetical Rav need to stand up for LA(with a measly signature) if this means his own organization will become a target of politics.
Why?
Maybe more people will give LA, but doesn't this Rav have a responsibility to his own organization first?
Sad Reality
"(unfortunately, in a community striving for spiritual attainment and trying to raise frum ehrliche families, the most important issues that come up are far greater than the trash collection schedule.)"
Um, don't you think these ehriliche families deserve or would possibly care about clean streets and clean parks (to respond to your other cute comment on Rafi's blog)? With upwards of 6 children in each family, I would suspect that when their garbage is collected or the state of the parks might be of some concern to ehriche yidden. Or is that only a concern for the tameh chilonim/dati leumi?
If people want clean parks, the first step is to stop littering in them and stop allowing small children to use them without supervision.
People need to start taking responsibility for themselves and stop whining to the government to support them and clean up after them.
How about instead of collecting more taxes from us to pay people to pick up litter, they could pay for cleanup with money that they fine people for littering.
Trash collection, water, sewer are reasonable use of municipal funds. Improving local roads, adding traffic circles, lighting, unbreakable street signs etc. are as well.
Streamling the iriya's mechlakat hagviya which can cost people an unreasonable amount of time to deal with would be nice.
Regarding the topic of this post,
I agree and I also believe that in our current situation a rav must be democratically elected by a particular kehilla before being given any power (or money).
As great as any of these rabbanim are, we have recently seen what happens when they extend their reach beyond their grasp. Vehameveen yavin. Municipal politics are beyond their grasp.
If they want to help, let them give a musar schmuess (sermon) about personal responsibility, about parental responsibility, and about some commonly ignored yet absolute halachic prohibitions such as graffiti, littering (including cigarette butts - which involve a separate prohibition), unauthorized bill posting (e.g. pashkevillim), illegal parking, building onto public or communal land, and burning trash in the street.
Each individual and each kehilla should also be focused more on how they can improve themselves than on what their neighbor is doing wrong.
Each individual should be focused more on their responsibilities than on their "rights".
P.S. Shaul maybe Chen would get more votes if they fixed the spelling errors and broken links on their website. How can the voter expect them to run an entire city if they can't even run a simple website.
Um, don't you think these ehriliche families deserve or would possibly care about clean streets and clean parks (to respond to your other cute comment on Rafi's blog)? With upwards of 6 children in each family, I would suspect that when their garbage is collected or the state of the parks might be of some concern to ehriche yidden. Or is that only a concern for the tameh chilonim/dati leumi?
chas veshalom i never said that these weren't important things and that they should be neglected. however if one's child was doing poorly in school, fighting with friends, and suffering from low self esteem , as well as not brushing his teeth, i would assume that you would agree that the immediate priority should not be on brushing the teeth.
with that said, it is also obvius that you don't know what goes on in the neighborhood from the inside and what efforts are extended to solve which problems.
another thought, maybe the rabbanim who don't support lmaan achay have reasons and they are right and you are wrong? or do they have to agree with you to be considered legitamate?
i know nothing of the inner workings or politics of either organization but maybe there is something that only a few people are privy to know and based on that, decisions are made?
Sorry. Too much secrecy.
There needs to be transparency. The Rabbanim need to earn our trust, before we can allow them to make important decisions for us based on information that they can't tell us about.
"here here" to the blog post.
"get a life" to the posters.
The comments have taken a fine post that neatly deals with a major issue of our day and turned it into a petty squabble about parties, politics, litter and prejudice.
There is wood, there are trees. Now use your head to think.
If you can't come to a reasonable conclusion on your own on who to vote for in a largely irrelevant local election then ad kama v'kama, you are woefully unqualified to choose a Rebbi for yourself.
Finally, in the spirit of the blog post, don't expect government to provide everything for you. Communism and socialism failed and the nanny state is collapsing in Canada and Europe.
Just imagine if Noach had applied to his mayor for a building permit or asked Mayor Vaknin to organise an ark for him. Imagine if Avraham Avinu had waited for government to pack up his tents for him before setting off?
The gedolim are begining to act like Rebbes: they are involving themselves in the personal lives of their followers. Previously, gedolim would restrict their sphere of influence to Torah, now they make their forrays into other details of our lives.
If there is a Torah issue involved, the gedolim should make their case based on halachic logic: i.e. acc to Jewish law it is forbidden to vote for so and so, because he violates the following halachic principle.
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