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I apologize in advanced if I’m being too cynical or disrespectful… but as a resident of RBS, I have a difficult time when I see all of these ads saying that the Gedolim instruct to vote for one candidate over the other. I mean, wouldn’t a Gadol need to understand the needs of the city, meet with all of the candidates, to really give a recommendation on who the best person is for the city? Especially when the Gadol himself doesn’t actually live in the city that they are recommending? I mean, it’s either that the Gedolim are blindly telling us to follow the Charedi candidate, assuming he will be best for the city because of his religious affiliation… or they are being fed partial information and misinformation by the political parties themselves. I don’t know which is worse, the potential that outwardly frum people are using the Gedolim for their own personal and political power, or that Gedolim are dispensing advice without doing due diligence… but is there a way to rationally make sense of this phenomenon?
Even if the Gadol is well acquainted, it still debases him and his position when he meddles politics.
Politics is low, and to see a Rav job that field, for any reason, is terribly debasing no matter his motivation. This is obviously no better than what it says in Sanhedrin 52:
למה תלמיד חכם דומה לפני עם הארץ בתחלה דומה לקיתון של זהב סיפר הימנו דומה לקיתון של כסף נהנה ממנו דומה לקיתון של חרש כיון שנשבר שוב אין לו תקנה.A Yirei Shmayim will be always be a better candidate than an alternative.
Simcha, one thing to have in mind is that often gedolim are misquoted.
That being said, if they’re in fact supporting a person, why assume that it’s only because he’s charedi, and not because he’s both charedi and a good fit?
Re, yiras shomayim being important in Israeli politics – a doctor doesn’t make decisions for a community, nor is he chosen as a representative.
A political office, especially in Israel, carries with it the inherent potential for kiddush or chilul Hashem.
Everything is Israel is kulo politics, from the hechsher you eat to the color of your tissues in your bathroom, you never see a chuloni do business with a charidy because of politics, if you vote a certain way it defines your identity in Israel.
Don’t like it? move away or dont pay attention to it, its been that way for 100s of years and it not changing,Simcha, people meet with gedolim all the time. When i was in eretz yisroel, i did too, and i wasn’t even running for office!
It’s pretty easy…why wouldn’t they have met? I think it goes without saying.
In addition, i can’t imagine a scenario where a frei person would be favored over a frum person in Israel. We need to scratch at whatever representation we can get in a hostile country.
A great reminder of how fortunate we are to live in the U.S. where all of our political candidates are such ehrliche menschen and we can’t go wrong no matter who we vote for.
I think the Rabbanim are basing their decisions on what they saw and heard in the past 5 years in RBS/BS so we can’t say that they aren’t basing their decisions on anything and I know that they along with more than half of the city council including Likud were very unimpressed by the mayor. Anyway on a side note in Yerushalayim 5 years ago by the way Degel Hatorah and the Gedolim went with Moshe Lion (who is religious ) for mayor instead of Yossi Deutch the Chareidi candidate, so that means the Gedolim don’t always automatically instruct their Tzibbur to automatically vote for the chareidi person so therefore I believe the Gedolim know what they are recommending.
@GH, I know the candidates are sleazily on both sides of the aisle, Trump, Bill Clinton, Coumo Spitzer just to name a few.
Meeting the candidate doesn’t help one bit. The opposite might be true. It’s easier to make a decision without the fake smiles. I’m sure any Gadol who does decide political issues listens to people who know enough and that he has reason to trust.
There might be flaws in relying on people, but relying on a meeting with a politician is far worse.
@simcha613
Ever been to a livestock auction? now you will see horse trading and bidding for the shas votes in bet shemesh that will make the wild west look tame by comparison.I loved the YWN headline:
“HaGaon HaRav Landau: “Whoever doesn’t want to vote shouldn’t put on Tefillin””
One of the best headlines yet!
P.S. There is a great video of Rav Landau (from an earlier election?) where some askanim try to convince him to endorse the election, and he sternly sends them away with strong ridicule.
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