When I went to vote this week, I was reminded of a story about the Chazon Ish, a 20th century Israeli rabbi. One year on Election Day, he ran into an acquaintance. The Chazon Ish asked him, “Did you vote yet?” When the acquaintance responded that they hadn’t, the Chazon Ish asked why not. The person replied, “I don’t have the money to pay the poll tax.” But the Chazon Ish continued, “Do you own a pair of tefillin?” “Of course,” he replied. The Chazon Ish then told his acquaintance to go sell his tefillin and use the funds to pay the poll tax.
The Chazon Ish explained later that both of these actions - voting and putting on tefillin - are mitzvot. He wasn’t concerned that the Jew he met wouldn’t put on tefillin. He would borrow a pair if need be or someone would give him an extra set. But the Chazon Ish was worried that the individual wouldn’t perform the other mitzvah, the mitzvah of voting.
On a deeper level, I think the Chazon Ish was making another comparison between these two mitzvot. Tefillin is worn every weekday during tefillah as a way of embodying our connection to God and ritual. But perhaps the Chazon Ish was also saying that there’s something about voting, about elections and their outcomes, that impacts our day to day lives. Just as tefillin embodies our connection to God, voting embodies our connection to our society and those with whom we share it. Our votes matter not only on the day we cast them, but on every day after that.
This coming Tuesday evening I’ll be in conversation with Yair Rosenberg, Senior Writer at Tablet Magazine about this election through a Jewish lens. Yair is well-versed in many of the issues the Jewish community cares about, and the program promises to be a thought-provoking and informative event. This is the first educational event sponsored by Lyda Parker through the Hallie Cohen and Cindy Sotto Scholar-in-Residence Fund, and I hope you’ll join us on Tuesday night. You can find our more on the Facebook event, or you can go directly to the registration page.
I feel tremendously blessed and privileged to live in a democracy where my vote matters, and the half hour wait at the polls yesterday was a welcome reminder that many people are exercising their right to vote and engaging in this important mitzvah. If you haven’t yet, I hope you’ll join me in this mitzvah.
