הלכות בחירות - האם להצביע בבחירות ולמי להצביע | הרב אלישע וולפסון

With the permission of my teachers and masters, I hope you grant me permission . I would like to discuss the laws of elections. We are very close to election day and want to examine whether one should vote, and what one should choose according to our holy Torah. First of all, one must know that the very fact that our leadership, that we choose our leaders, is a wonderful and very great thing. It is something that is in accordance with the holy Torah, just like what we hope for the Messiah, son of David. Even King David waited for the people to choose him. I cannot elaborate now, but this is what our Sages say about the verse: "See, I have called by name Bezalel, son of Uri , son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah." Rabbi Yitzhak said: One does not appoint a leader over the public unless the public is consulted, as it is said: "He called by name Bezalel"—meaning God called him, but He did not appoint him; He waited to see what the public would say. The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses: "Moses, is he acceptable to you?" Bezalel said to Him: "Master of the Universe, if he is acceptable to You, then all the more so to me?" He said to him: "Nevertheless, go and tell them." He went and said to Israel: "Is Bezalel acceptable to you?" They said to him: "If he is acceptable before the Holy One, blessed be He, and before you , then all the more so to us." This is essentially how the Torah instructs us that when appointing a leader over the public, it should be someone pleasing to the public. And when they are pleasing to the public, our Sages say that even the most insignificant person appointed as a leader should be in your eyes like the greatest of the great. That is to say, we have a natural tendency to be cynical about all politics and leaders. But the Torah, our Sages, explicitly instruct us not to behave that way. Quite the opposite, the exact opposite. And our Sages say: "Pray for the welfare of the government ." The entire Bible, in the end— though it might sound a bit sharp to say it—is a book of politics. The Torah does not deal with this person or that, it deals with the leadership of the People of Israel; what is happening with the leadership of the People of Israel. Even when it is a very wicked king, the Torah, the Bible, and the Prophets deal with the leadership of the People of Israel. Therefore, to be partners in determining, in choosing who will lead the People of Israel, is a very great thing, a very important thing, and a very wonderful thing. There are many who truly feel a certain repulsion; perhaps it is because of Zionism, "we are not Zionists," or " everyone there is like this or that," heaven forbid. So first of all, in the most simple and basic view, one must know that whoever says this is simply hiding their eyes from reality. Because in practice, whoever says "I have no reason to vote, it doesn't matter at all," is actually saying there is no difference if there is a minister, for example, for education, who only wants the People of Israel to engage in Torah and good deeds and will seek every way to instill these values, versus a minister who...even supporters of terrorists that we have in the Knesset, or all sorts of others, unfortunately, enemies of Israel, may God have mercy. And of course, it is the same with settlement, the same with the judicial system, and the same in all fields entirely. Ultimately, uh, we grant authority to these people, uh, and they receive the power from the public to act, and therefore there is a huge obligation on everyone to be a partner in the choice, to choose. Uh, uh, and then, of course, the question: Whom to choose? So whom to choose? We choose who Hashem chooses. Still, unfortunately, we have no prophet to tell us whom to choose, but we must observe what the Holy One, Blessed is He, chooses. >> What the Holy One, Blessed is He, chooses, and after we see what Hashem chooses, we will examine reality as far as our hands can reach, and we do not see—there is nothing yet but what we see—who merits to act. >> In what the Holy One, Blessed is He, chooses, the whole multitude, as much as... >> Beautiful. >> So first of all, whom does the Holy One , Blessed is He, choose? The Holy One, Blessed is He, chooses the people of Israel, who He chose from among all the nations. The Holy One, Blessed is He, loves the people of Israel, and therefore whoever gives their heart for the sake of the people of Israel is a person whom the Holy One, Blessed is He , chooses. A person whose entire heart, eyes, will, and deeds are dedicated to the people of Israel—not just for their little town, not just for their own base, as they say, but truly all their focus and desire is to bring redemption to the people of Israel— that is a person whom the Holy One, Blessed is He, chooses. And of course, the Holy One, Blessed is He, chooses those who choose the Torah, and Moses His servant, and Israel, faith, truth, and justice. So whoever chooses the Torah, who walks according to the Torah , who wants to do all their deeds according to our holy Torah with a whole heart and willing soul, with all the complexity that entails in the real world. Sitting in the study hall and wearing tefillin and tallit is easy, but, uh, to lead a country with all the power you receive and the funds to lead it according to Hashem's will—that is much, much more complex. And we need to choose people who want and strive to direct all their actions according to our holy Torah, to increase the Torah, to empower the observance of the Torah among the people of Israel. So that is, of course, the additional choice. And the additional choice is, of course, the Land of Israel. The Land of Israel. The Holy One, Blessed is He, chose it, just as we read in our Parasha, that the Holy One, Blessed is He, promises Abraham in the Covenant Between the Pieces. The Holy One, Blessed is He, promises Abraham the Holy Land. And our entire holy Torah, from beginning to end, deals with choosing. Our Sages. The version of the choice, I don't remember. >> Right, our Sages say, our Sages say that the Holy One, Blessed is He, chose the Land of Israel from all the lands. >> Uh yes, also in Zion, in the concept of the whole Land of Israel, uh, it also appears many times that the Holy One, Blessed is He, chooses the Land of Israel—like in Bereishit, from year to year. And therefore, when we are looking for whom to choose, it is someone who chooses the Land of Israel, someone who, uh, gives their whole heart for the sake of the redemption of our land. For the sake of, as we also read in the Parasha, from the river of Egypt to the Euphrates—this is our land, this is the land the Holy One, Blessed is He, promised us, and certainly, certainly, we must never, God forbid, retreat from the places that the Holy One, Blessed is He, helped us redeem in a difficult war. So if we see a public leader who gives his heart for the Land of Israel, for the redemption of the land, to make it bloom, to build more and more—this is , of course, a leader who is worthy in this regard. And of course, the final point (there are many more, but this is our focus): For the Lord has chosen Zion, we now understand for Him the place, the chosen house, yes, the place that the Lord will choose—that is the site of the Temple. So anyone who sets their heart to understand the important significance of this place, that the people of Israel should return to it, that the people of Israel should have full sovereignty over it, that the people of Israel should pray here, and through this, God willing, we will also reach the building of the Temple— whoever chooses Zion, then the Holy One , Blessed be He, chooses them, and within that, of course, with the people of Israel. And this is also the correction of the judicial system, of course, for Zion shall be redeemed by justice and those who return by righteousness; the ability to redeem Zion is indeed the correction of the judicial system. So of course, everyone has things that they... >> Justice in the place He chooses. >> Right, of course, the court is here— of course, the place that God chose. So naturally, everyone has things they are stronger in, things they devote more of their heart to, but we must examine who succeeds in embodying this entire wholeness as much as possible, in the most complete, powerful, and dedicated way; and from that, choose them, as they are certainly the one whom the Holy One, Blessed be He, has chosen to lead the people of Israel. May God grant us that the Holy One, Blessed be He, will put it into the heart of the people of Israel to choose righteous, worthy, and upright leaders to bring redemption to the people of Israel, to redeem the Torah, the nation, the land, and the site of the Temple; may we merit redemption there with mercy, and may it be His will, and let us say Amen .