Therein he describes what it means to be Charedi in this regard. If the rabbinic leadership (what they often refer to as ‘Daas Torah’) says to vote for a particular party, you have no choice but to vote for it. You cannot decide for yourself what party best suits your needs, that of your family and that of Klal Yisroel. The idea being that we are not well versed enough in Torah to make such decisions. Only those steeped in such knowledge are capable of determining that. We must therefore follow what they say.
What about the Torah concept of ‘Bechira Chofshis’ – the idea that man has free will? Well of course we do. But the Charedi mindset is that if we do not choose to follow what the rabbinic leadership says, that we are choosing evil over good - whether we realize it or not.
It is in that vein that rabbinic leaders of various Charedi communties urge their voters to vote for the Charedi parties. Voting for another party in essence is a violation of ‘Daas Torah’ and in effect expunges you from being part of Charedi world. Tthe only legitimate form of Judaism.
I can’t really blame the Charedi leadership for wanting their representatives in the Knesset to win as many seats as possible. They know where their bread is buttered. The more representation they have the more ‘butter’ they get.
But do Charedim actually believe their votes matter? One might think that the obvious answer is, of course they do. But that does not seem to be the case as Rabbi Slifkin noted by the following comment made in the past by a Charedi rabbinic leader:
"Our national security, our physical and surely spiritual needs are not in the hands of any government... Our present decision in these elections is to show Hashem that we feel that the things that are important to him are important to us, and this will being us continued Siyata Dishmaya. To this end our leaders, Rav Shteinman Shlita and Rav Kanyevsky Shlita have spoken clearly and strongly that we should vote for Gimmel - UTJ..."
As Rabbi Slifkin points out, the idea here is that the Charedi vote is meaningless since it is God that determines the results of the election. Voting only showes our devotion to God - in that we support what we believe are His goals. The resulting number of seats won is therefore not due to voter turnout at all.
Maybe this is what they say. But I'm not buying it. True - God controls the world. But voter turnout does matter. That is part of our Bechira Chofshis. The number of seats depends on the number of votes they get. Bechira Chofshis is in essence God's form of control. He wants us to choose and it makes a difference who we choose and how many of us vote.
I think that attitude is reflected in Rabbi Adlerstein’s post on Cross Currents. He clearly believes that Charedi votes matter -and that it is not just about showing God how devoted we are to Him.
While we are on the subject, I note that Rabbi Adlerstein actually laments the fact that Charedim do not vote as a block - causing the Charedi parties not have the kind of power in the Knesset that their growing constituency should reflect. Many of them vote for whomever they choose. Doing so in the privacy of the voting booth prevents them form ‘getting the boot’ out of the Charedi community. Here is how he puts it:
If Knesset seats followed population growth, Charedim should have added three seats every ten years because of its explosive growth, B”H. Instead, representation has remained at about seven, and it might decline to six this time around.
The question is, how can a card carrying member of the Charedi world – who believes that one must follow ‘Daas Torah’ – decide to go against it by voting for other parties?
I think the answer might be quite revealing. Apparently many Charedim follow ’Daas Torah’ for social reasons. They do not want to lose their Charedi credentials. Given the opportunity to think for themselves without being caught, many of them do!
This is a positive development. They are not rebelling against the Torah. As rational human beings, they are just thinking for themselves within the context of their religious education. I do not believe that God intends us to be non thinking zombies.
Apparently American (Anglo) Charedim wo have made Aliyah seem to have something to do with this: phenomenon. America’s Charedi Jews have always voted for whom they please. But it is more than that. There seems to be a quiet rebellion of sorts:
Anglo-charedim are beginning to behave like Westerners at the ballot box. We’ll have to see if their Israeli cousins are listening…
The silent resisters are one cause for the abysmal record of charedi voting behavior. Another is apathy. Many, many charedim just don’t bother voting. They may assume that the outcome is guaranteed, or they may be fed up with the corruption, the power-grabs, the infighting among the charedi factions.
By now, there is another model of voting outside of the designated choices of charedi leadership. (One charedi who questioned a local rov about his right to vote was told, “Of course you have a right to vote. But we tell you whom to vote for!”) Anglo-charedim are doing things differently. In the municipal elections in Beit Shemesh (an Anglo-charedi stronghold) a few years ago, the present mayor was swept into office by lots of charedim. Despite explicit instructions from charedi leadership, they voted for the candidate that they felt would do a better job providing services in the city.
This attitude is being fought by Israel’s rabbinic leaders who say that Anglos are wrong for thinking they can vote for whomever they choose. They are ill equipped to do that based on their inferior knowledge of Torah (compared to their rabbinic leaders).
It appears that Daas Torah is becoming less of an influence in the chardi world. At least as far as elections go.
I’m not sure how this will end but I hope the trend continues. On the one hand the rabbinic leadership in Israel is too big to ‘knock down’. The reverence for the elderly leaders by the vast majority of Charedim is profound. What they say still matters to the typical Charedi. But it cannot be denied that the winds of change seem to be blowing stronger now than ever. What the future holds, nobody knows.
