6 Responses

1. This comment is not against Mr. Josh Mandel personally, but about the whole concept of Shomer Shabbos candidates.

   The Chareidi Tzibur has had enough of “religious” Office Seekers. From allowing intermarriage, blaspheming our daily blessings to legalizing same gender marriage, these candidates are a Chillul Hashem and a disaster to Judaism.

2. “Sane” Conservative: did anyone ever tell you that you career choice was a chillul Hashem? You shouldn’t knock Jewish politicians, we have every right to have our own voice heard rather then chummy up to Goyish politicians to “ask for favors”.

3. We need to remember that an elected official should be voting based on the desires of his constituents and not his own personal beliefs and special interests. That said, as voters, we should be choosing a candidate that will respect the will of the constituents.
   For a frum jew to vote for a social issue that is against the torah is not the problem. (I don’t know what halacha actually says about that though.) But when that frum jew represents frum jews and he ignores his constituents wishes, that becomes a chilul hashem.

4. We need to remember that an elected official should be voting based on the desires of his constituents and not his own personal beliefs and special interests.

   Edmund Burke, at least, thought otherwise:

   “Certainly, Gentlemen, it ought to be the happiness and glory of a representative to live in the strictest union, the closest correspondence, and the most unreserved communication with his constituents. Their wishes ought to have great weight with him; their opinions high respect; their business unremitted attention. It is his duty to sacrifice his repose, his pleasure, his satisfactions, to theirs,—and above all, ever, and in all cases, to prefer their interest to his own.
   But his unbiased opinion, his mature judgment, his enlightened conscience, he ought not to sacrifice to you, to any man, or to any set of men living. These he does not derive from your pleasure — no, nor from the law and the Constitution. They are a trust from Providence, for the abuse of which he is deeply answerable. Your representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays instead of serving you if he sacrifices it to your opinion.”

5. #1- While Mr. Mandel appears to be more of a “Conservadox” rather than Orthodox (though as the bulk of the Conservatives move left, the remaining right will be easier and easier to confuse with “modern orthodox”), he a genuine political conservative and we would love to have a politically conservative Jewish candidate who we could support. If he wins, itmight give politically conservative Jewish candidates in places like New York the “chutzpah” to contest the liberal “Jewish” establishment.

6. For all the ignorant people out there who live on the east coast, let me give you the local perspective on josh mandel. He is on the way to being a true bal teshuva and keeping Shabbos, not conservadox (he is conservative only in politics). He even learns a couple times a week with Rabbi Dovid Greenwald in Telshe Yeshiva, and was recently the keynote speaker at their past dinner, not something they would give to a non-religious jew. He is against all immoral laws including the toaiva marriage bill passed elsewhere, and very pro-israel, definitely on the right. He will also be only the second jewish (forget orthodox) republican in congress (house majority leader Eric Cantor is the other) if he wins. You can’t bring a proof from a democrat on social issues. Lastly, he is a vast improvement over his opponent, Sherrod Brown, who is one of the most liberal and pro-palestinian members of the Senate, and thar alone is enough reason to support him. I hope this will teach people to find out their facts before they go besmirching the names of fellow jews.