THE 5755 ELECTION: WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

As Chabad Chassidim, we don’t just run a campaign once every two years; we do so every hour of every day. Ours is a campaign of love, a campaign connecting Jews to their time-honored traditions, a campaign to spread the wellsprings and illuminate the Jewish soul. We have a mission to bring Moshiach Tzidkeinu in actual deed and we must do this with the entire Jewish People.

Translated by Michoel Leib Dobry

1.  Why will there be an election in Eretz Yisroel on the 26^th of Adar? Political commentators have been trying to figure out what will eventually motivate people to get out of their homes, go to the polls, and decide which ballot slip to put into the envelope. In the last election, supporters of a party that received nineteen Knesset seats came out to vote against the high cost of living. Nine years ago, there was the “Pensioners’ Party” that got nearly two hundred thousand people to come out and vote for them. The election outcome was once due to the cost of dairy products, on another occasion, it was simply because there was no one for whom to vote. What’s this election all about?

As Election Day approaches, it seems that, more than the military conscription law or the disrespect for Torah scholars, what hangs in the balance is an unprecedented battle over the future character of Judaism in the Jewish homeland. During the short parliamentary term of the past two years, several legislative initiatives were passed that no one dared to propose for over sixty years, commonly called a violation of the “status quo.” This wave of spiritual destruction was only stopped when the government fell and the need for new elections arose. If the next coalition government will primarily include the same parties as its predecessor, it stands to reason that Eretz Yisroel will again be led by an anti-religious alignment that will continue the prevailing civil war against the ultra-Orthodox community. As a result, what happened over the past two years will be merely a portent of things to come.

It might appear that the last election was over the cost of chocolate pudding, but in truth, it turns out that the main issue was compulsory military service for chareidim, its accompanying criminal sanctions, and the changes to the status quo in matters of religion and state. The day after the election we discovered that the people were not with us. One million G-d fearing Jews went out into the streets and cried out against the new legislation on “the equal sharing of the national burden,” yet no one was really moved by this exhibition.

In the upcoming election, a sizable portion of the population will not go out to vote for anything. However, they will vote against: Against the high cost of living, not for economic security; against a “Palestinian” state, not for a Jewish state; against Torah scholars - and not for anything else of value. Apparently, this is the state of affairs in a society that includes such polarizing extremes. However, the problem is that there are those who can easily provide the necessary excuses for someone looking for a reason to vote “against.”

How did we come to a situation where a major segment of the Israeli public goes to vote against Torah study, against Torah scholars, and against all that is holy in Israel? How is it possible that those who gave a party nineteen seats in the last Knesset election because they wanted a better standard of living saw their votes used as a lethal weapon against the Torah? The fact is that they not only expected the chairman of this party to lower dairy prices, he would also take child allowances away from ultra-Orthodox families. The campaign slogan meant to be the most “positive” turned into a tool of the most “negative” forces against the chareidi world. Where did we go wrong? How did we allow a campaign of such hatred to penetrate Israeli society, striking at the very roots of our people?

The political reality produced in the atmosphere of the last two years took form long before the covenant forged between the government’s two main coalition partners determined to wage open hostilities against the Torah world. The legislation passed by this government was merely the fruits grown from the seeds planted and developed over a period of many years, when many Jews simply didn’t feel part of their own people.

To whom does the Torah belong? Yeshiva and kollel students? The Torah is the inheritance of the entire Jewish People! However, if that’s the case, why doesn’t a simple Jew from Givatayim feel that it’s important for him to learn Torah and keep its traditions? Why has the battle over maintaining Torah observance been transformed into a tool for greater division between various forces within Israeli society?

The current election season is a good time to sum up the agonizing consequences we have endured over the last two years. More has taken place here than just the damage in the relationship between the religious Zionist and ultra-Orthodox forces. This has been yet another stage in the difficult and bitter competition between various sectors of the Jewish People. This rivalry has been going on for nearly seven decades, and the last parliamentary term was characteristic of this fact.

The time has come to put an end to this.

2.  The previous election was divided into two fronts. The general public went out to vote primarily over the cost of living. The ultra-Orthodox sector voted over the issue of military conscription. We still don’t know what will bring the public out to the polls this time. The question is: What will bring us out on Election Day? As Chabad Chassidim we have our path and our shlichus. The Rebbe placed a clear objective before us - to bring the announcement of the Redemption to every Jew of this generation and bring Moshiach Tzidkeinu in actual deed down here into this physical world - through unity, love, and a connection to the eternal values of the Jewish People. This is not just an election slogan lasting for the duration of a political campaign; this is a true and everlasting message of shlichus meant to last until our objective is successfully achieved.

The plan of action for defeating the forces of hatred was written by the leader of our generation and divided into ten general orders - the Ten Mitzvah Campaigns. It really makes no difference what happens on the day we go to the polls; the main thing is what happens the day after. Anyone who has a mission to illuminate the world and spread the wellsprings of Torah doesn’t become a mouthpiece for one political party or another. He must understand that there is a shlichus here, to save, connect, and unite the Jewish People. The election will soon be over, the campaign excitement will dissipate, yet we will continue our work to create greater spiritual light.

Chabad Chassidim are the only community in Eretz HaKodesh that asks nothing for itself during the tumult of a national election campaign. Anyone who is involved with election matters within the Chabad community knows that we can’t be bought with government funding, campaign promises, or candidates for public office. On the contrary – Chabad is the only sector that if a party promises them a Knesset Member from the ranks of its own community, they’ll think twice before voting for that party. We have one shlichus that cannot be changed by any political reality. Our shlichus is to illuminate the Jewish soul with the light of Torah and mitzvos, gathering and uniting the various factions, and working on behalf of the entire Jewish People to the degree that no Jew living in Eretz Yisroel would ever think of voting against the world of Torah. This is not just to prevent budget reductions for Torah institutions, as voting against Torah values is not the problem – merely a symptom. We don’t want any Jew to vote against the Torah because above all, we care about the Jew himself, who is “truly a part of G-d Above.”

While the serious damage caused to Torah institutions is most distressing, there’s something far more painful: the impression left when Jews vote against the cause of Torah. What does this say about us? We have been negligent in our duties, as there are still many Jews who feel that the Torah ch”v is not theirs. When a Jew votes against the Torah, this is our responsibility. If we have reached a state where the Torah can be attacked so harshly, it would appear that we haven’t been persistent enough in our shlichus. If we would have worked hard enough to connect this Jew to his true roots, he never would have voted against Torah scholars and surely not for a party professing hatred for anything with a smell of holiness – the holiness of the People of Israel.

3.  During the last two years, we have dealt only with the problem, but we haven’t even touched its root source. We had here the destructive military conscription law, the harm caused to the marriage certification system, the dangerous conversion law, recognition of the Reform movement, and more. While these are most perilous breaches in the protective wall of traditional Judaism that will require several years to repair, they are not the problem. They are the result. The real problem is that for many years the Jewish People have been neglected. The Torah belonged only to a small handful of scholars, while large cross-sections of Am Yisroel don’t feel that they have any part in it. In the spirit of these days of campaigns and messages, the time has come for a campaign declaring that the Torah doesn’t belong just to the ultra-Orthodox. It belongs to every Jew - including Yossi from Ramat Gan and Michal from Kiryat Gat.

As Chabad Chassidim, we don’t just run a campaign once every two years; we do so every hour of every day. Ours is a campaign of love, a campaign connecting Jews to their time-honored traditions, a campaign to spread the wellsprings and illuminate the Jewish soul. We have a mission to bring Moshiach Tzidkeinu in actual deed and we must do this with the entire Jewish People, “because none is rejected by Him.” Therefore, first and foremost, as a means of beginning the process of correcting the injustices of the last two years, we must place the campaign of Ahavas Yisroel at the forefront - a true connection of all sectors of the Jewish People around our Holy Torah. When every Jew feels a part of the Torah, he will automatically desist from taking action against those learn Torah.

This is most definitely the reason for this election.