In his op-ed about proposal 1 on a Jewish website, Rabbi Moshe Indig eloquently stated that “I understand the emotion that this issue may bring to the community.” Judging by the op-ed that Yeshiva World News ran in response to Indig’s article and by reviewing some of the comments the YWN Op-Ed generated, it seems that indeed people’s emotions are running high.
I will not repeat Indig’s points. It’s available out there for those mature enough to put emotion aside, but I do want to say two things:
1) Indig does not say that Orthodox Jews should vote for the Proposal. To the contrary. He wrote “we – as Orthodox Jews – don’t condone gambling in itself given the potential downsides that it can bring with it such as addiction, family and financial ruin.” So to argue against Ingid’s article by yelling that Jews should not vote does not address his article because Indig never argued that we should vote for it. He only argued why we should not organize against it.
2) While our Community does have political muscle, we need to know when and how to use it. This Proposal was passed in the Legislature with broad support from both parties; the Independence Party supports it too. A recent poll shows that 60% of NYC voters plan to vote for it so to waste our political capital on a thing that we have zero chance to change is Meshugah.
Chaim Elenbogen
FOR PREVIOUS ARTICLES ON THIS TOPIC, VISIT THESE LINKS:
Satmar (Kiryas Yoel) Approves Of Gambling In Sullivan County
Orthodox Jewry Organizes to Vote Down Gambling Referendum
Op-Ed: Casinos In Our Midst, And Rabbi Moshe Indig Of Satmar (Kiryas Yoel)
NOTE: The views expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of YWN.
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4 Responses
If you vote your mind you are not “wasting” anything. If it’s so popular as you say then no politician will mind if ultra religious people have a problem with it.
Cheapening yourself and openly not voting your mind just for some gedreite cheshbon is the true waste. The waste of our purity. Let’s start being clear as to what we stand for. You won’t loose anything. You will win the hearts of our lost children.
Indig was the one who personally created this mess.
Our Jewish papers, which fly under the radar of the outside media, urged their readers not to vote for the proposition. It should have been left at that.
After the Aroni paper, the Blatt, also came out against the casinos, Indig contacted the media that the article was erroneous, and, in fact, the Aronim will be voting FOR gambling.
And if that was not enough, he wrote an op-ed touting that there would be no negative impact with the passage of Proposition 1. Traffic, the fabric of family life in the country etc… none of that would be affected.
In response to such a provocative article the Rabbonim had no choice but to issue a public statement regarding the peril of bringing casinos into our midst.
He has nobody to blame for this debacle but himself!
#2, totally not true! Indig got mixed in when the Yeshiva World published their article about the jewish community against the Casinos, and then he wrote his article to calm down the politicel world who came to him very shorp, so don’t blame him…
And about his OP-ED what you say, is also for the non-jewish world, and for us -jew’s- you don’t need Indig to explain that it’s forbidden to go in, in such a place!!
And what will he say to the political world when the votes against the casinos are counted? That he has no clout whatsoever in the Yiddishe world?
How will he explain that to them? Does he think that they are so stupid? He will be the laughingstock all over!