A Guest Post by David Ram
REPORT FROM THE R' AARON FELDMAN SPEECH AT BEIS TEFILA:
I attended R' Aaron Feldman's speech at Beis Tefila this evening. I have tremendous respect for him and felt a quasi responsibility to welcome such a torah giant to our community, whether i agree with him or not. I also grew up in Atlanta under the leadership of his brother, so I feel a bit of a connection to him.
Because he was specifically flown in to speak tonight on the topic of the local elections, it is clear that the Abutbul campaign is nervous about the Anglo Hareidi swing vote and/or apathy. So I was expecting a powerful message about why one should vote for Abutbul. I was quite disappointed with the speech. I feel that the Anglo Hareidi community to whom he was speaking is a possible swing voting group, but I feel the key messages from the Rabbi tonight did not, or at least should not have resonated with the crowd. The 3 key takeaways were:
1. The election was stolen from us by the fry bagatz. they overturned an election based on a possible fraud of 36 votes and expanded that to 1,400 votes with minimal logic and proof; all because of the national conspiracy against torah and the hareidim. 2. R' Moshe Abutbul is a great mayor. He has done and will continue to do a good job. He will do good to transform Beit Shemesh into a flourishing torah metropolis, just like Bnei Brak. In fact, Beit Shemesh is at a similar point in its history to Bnei Brak a few decades ago. and this is why Bibi has taken an unprecedented interest in this election, and people like Yapid. to stop this process. 3. Chilul Hashem is the worst thing one can do or be a part of. and if Abutbul loses, then the bagatz and the chilonim will say - "see, you are all frauds. You cheated the first time, and this is the proof." we cannot allow abutbul to lose based on apathy or a belief that the other candidate will be better...abutbul must win to avoid a massive international chilul hashem.
The reason I feel that this did not resonate with the swing voters is because everyone knows there was real fraud. And everyone knows Abutbul is not a great mayor. he may be OK...but he is not great. And lastly, the chilul hashem already happened. I don't think if Abutbul wins it will undermine the existing chilul hashem.
Truthfully, I didn't see too many swing voters in the crowd...but I am curious to know if his message was convincing. I was expecting him to tell the Anglos that this is not the USA or the UK. Voting here is not a personal decision. It is a community decision. And if you are a part of the Hareidi community, then you need to vote with your community. and those voting decisions are driven by daas torah and not individual choice. That I believe would have resonated more...since that is the confusion often felt within the Anglo Hareidi community – "Do I do what the rabbis tell me, whether they are aware of the local issues or not, because of this odd almost mystical concept called daas torah? Or do I exercise my civic duty on my own personal views – a right that I have as an individual and one that I cherish as a member of western culture?"
That is why is was surprised by his message this evening. I thought it was weak. Politics is more similar to religion than medical questions or taxes.Questions on where to live or family planning. In general, there are personal questions and then there are community questions where we may seek advice and/or psak. We all have strong western values, which is generally good. But western culture tells us that voting is a personal decision. Strong, tight knit communities often vote together. And Hareidi leadership does not view it as a personal decision. If you are western and do not identify with the Hareidi community, than there is no reason for you to worry or listen to the Hareidi community leaders. But if you are Hareidi then by definition you need to tow the line. The phenomenon in recent years that is happening in Israel, is hareidim are voting more and more as individuals and not as a community. Last national election cycle, there was a massive Hareidi leadership campaign to get the masses to vote together. It was a big success. But specifically in RBS, there is this Anglo Hareidi community that experience the clash of cultures resulting in confusion in the voting booth. And there is a growing Israeli Hareidi group that are feeling more empowered and often neglected by the Hareidi leadership as poverty perpetuates. Big hitter gedolim provide a serious boost, by guilting the Israeli hareidim and convincing the Anglo hareidim. I expect these types of events to have a big effect, but I didn’t feel it tonight.
But as a side note, as a staunch Zionist, I love the fact that an 80 year old torah giant living in Baltimore feels a personal, national responsibility to get on a plane for a 2 day trip to deliver a 1 hour speech to swing voters in Beit Shemesh and to convince them to vote in a way that he strongly believes is best for the torah way of life. This is a Zionist dream.
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