Rebbetzen Tziporah: A Retraction

Dear friends,

You may be, very reasonably, surprised to hear from me so soon after my previous letter.

 

The reason is that I made a royal mistake; an innocent, but serious mistake nonetheless.

 

I included information about the coming WZO elections, and the importance of voting. By voting for the Torah, you are helping thousands of Jews in Eretz Yisrael have the means of affirming the importance of Torah lifestyle and education. The resources of WZO are not distributed in a way that promotes the growth of Torah.

 

HERE IS WHAT I DIDN’T KNOW

 

Only later, I found out that a large gathering was held in Lakewood. BMG gathered the students to listen to their great Rabbanim who told them in no uncertain language that participating in this election is wrong. It is a compromise by which we may be inadvertently giving a hechsher to an organization that is primarily and historically against everything that the torah community stands for.

 

This is not the first time the question has arisen. There were elections a few years ago, and although nothing has really changed, Rav Chaim took a position different than that of the great Rabbanim of BMG, and recommended voting in order to get whatever we can in order to promote torah. Those who are close to him (and to several other contemporary Rabbanim) maintain that voting is important.

 

WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?

 

NEITHER YOU NOR I CAN POSSIBLY TAKE A POSITION IN WHICH WE CLAIM TO KNOW BETTER THAN THE GEDOLEI TORAH. IT IS CRUCIAL THAT YOU ASK THE RAV WHO YOU TRUST, AND TO WHOM YOU TURN WHEN ASKING IMPORTANT QUESTIONS.

 

WHY IS THIS SO IMPORTANT? WHY NOT JUST FIGURE THINGS OUT YOURSELF?

 

This past week’s parshah tells you that Moshe gathered all of the nation together when telling them to assemble the mishkan. They already knew what to do in theory – now it was the time to make it happen.

This was a joint project. Even though there were many parts to the mishkan, and many people gave their individual gifts, they gave their gifts as a way of defining their individuality through the Klal. The census that was taken (and the next ones too) count over 600,000 individuals, whose number was known because of the half shekels they contributed. When you opt for machlokes, you destroy the integrity of the klal.

 

MACHLOKES IS A PLAGUE

 

PLEASE IGNORE ANY MACHLOKES! DON’T FEEL A NEED TO ALWAYS HAVE A VOCIFEROUS POSITION, CERTAINLY NOT ONE THAT DEGRADES THOSE WHOSE POSITIONS ARE NOT THE ONE YOU HAVE CHOSEN. DO WHAT YOU KNOW TO BE RIGHT, AND WHEN NOT SURE, ASK YOUR DAAS TORAH... THE ONE THING THAT IS ALWAYS NEEDED IS TO SPEAK WITH LOVE AND RESPECT.

 

ALL THE BEST ALWAYS,

With love,

Tziporah