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Judaism

Vote Torah

This Op-Ed is directed toward the Anglo-Saxon community in Israel, and not toward Jews in the Diaspora, who don’t have the ability to vote in Israeli elections, and rightly so.

Obviously, football fans who prefer to watch the Super Bowl on TV in their living rooms, while munching on popcorn and gulping down beer, don’t have the privilege to play in the game.

Indeed, what a disaster it woud be if Diasporians could vote in Israel elections.

The vast assimilated liberal majority, and all of those who claim to be Jewish because they like bagels and lox, would probably vote for the Arab parties in an expression of solidarity.

An even greater tragedy, perhaps, is the virtual couch voters in Brooklyn, the Five Towns, Los Angeles, and South Florida, Jews who would vote for Rightist parties in Israel, if they lived here, but whose virtual absentee ballots don’t get counted, preventing the political Right in Israel from achieving a landslide victory over the Left.

Therefore, to the champions of Aliyah who have set Jerusalem over all other joys, and who have made the Passover Haggadah a living reality by leaving the bondage of Galut to become free Jews in the Land of Israel, on Election Day, I urge you to vote for the party which most promotes Torah values, including the sanctity of the Jewish Family, true Jewish Education in our schools, the justice system according to Jewish Law, conversion according to Halakha, service in the IDF, and Jewish Sovereignty over all the Land of Israel.

Among English-speaking olim, the more serious Religious Zionists will vote for Smotrich.

It is expected that many of what is known as Dati-Lite will cast their ballots for Bennett or Bibi. And there are those who will vote for a center-left party like Lapid.

Let it be clear. Israel is at war. For the moment, the war is not with the Arabs. The war is over the Jewish identity of Medinat Yisrael.

Shortly, the Supreme Court will decide that a Jewish State is a racist concept which rejects the exalted principle of equality, and tramples on freedom of the individual, and therefore, Israel must become a State like any other, governed by the sacred laws of democracy, and cleansed from all ethnic and religious compulsion.

Therefore, it is incumbent on all olim, who still set Jerusalem above their highest joy, to vote for the honor of the Torah, and for the honor of Hashem, and to choose the party which will stand most faithful to the holy traditions of our holy Forefathers.

The size of one’s kippah, or whether a candidate is clean-shaven or wears a beard, are not merely external symbols, but noteworthy signs of inner belief – just as the head covering and modest dress of married women are external signs of respect for the traditions of Judaism. Yet far more important is what a person says and how she or he has acted in the past.

In the remaining hours before the election, look closely at the candidates.

Vote for those who speak words of Torah. They will be our faithful representatives in the battle over the Jewish Identity of Medinat Yisrael. They will be the ones who raise the banner of our Torah. They will be the ones who call out, for us, in the Name of Hashem. Make your voice heard. Cast your vote for the Torah!

Source: Tzvi Fishman – Arutz Sheva