Yom Kippur Day 5777
~Your Vote Counts~
Rabbi Chanina, the Deputy of Priests, would often say, “Pray for the welfare of the government, for were it not for the fear of it, people would swallow each other alive.”
–Pirke Avot 3:2
I don’t know about you, but in the last few years it has felt to me like we are trying to swallow each other alive and the government rather than curbing our basest nature seems to be championing it these days. On Rosh HaShanah, I challenged you to listen to the stories and opinions and ideas of others - people who have different backgrounds and different affiliations and different values than you. I asked you to hear them without interruption, without contradiction, without assumptions regarding what could or should be their story. I asked you to look beyond the black & white and find the many nuances - hues and shades and colors - that come together to create the reality of our tremendously diverse nation: a nation that cannot be defined by one ethnicity, religion, culture, or lifestyle. I asked you all of this because I TRULY believe that we build our society from the bottom up. If we want cross cultural respect, than we must be respectful of each person’s cultural background. If we want freedom of religion, than we cannot tread on other’s religious expression. If we want the right to live our life to its fullest - to pursue that which makes us happy and whole - we have to allow that possibility for every member of our society. I truly believe that creating the world I want to live in begins with me and you.
It does not, however, end with me and you. When Moses first brought the people out of Egypt there is this fascinating scene when his father-in-law, Jethro, comes to see him. Jethro watches Moses sit at the entrance to his tent and tend to the people and their complaints and issues and concerns from first thing in the morning until well into the night. The people are lined up for what seems like miles. And Moses barely has time to eat and sleep let alone be a husband and father and person, in his own right. So, Jethro pulls Moses aside and with love and a lot of concern explains to him, “‘this thing that you are doing is not right.’ It is not good for the people or for you. Rather, set up a system of judges: choose capable and trustworthy people whom you have taught the laws and precepts to; let these people be the authority over tens, fifties, hundreds, and thousands of people. Let them settle the minor disputes and concerns bringing only the major issues to you.” Moses went ahead and took his father-in-law’s advice and then, and only then, did God meet the people at Sinai to give them the 10 Commandments.
We, too, have set up our system in a similar way; we have school board chairs and town council presidents, city mayors and county clerks, municipal supervisors and state governors, representatives and senators, and we have a president of the United States of America. We cannot create our ideal society on a personal scale alone when our society is local, statewide, and national as well. And yet, it still comes down to me and you because you and I have been given a voice in creating our city and state and nation - you and I have been given a vote.
I am not sure how to adequately convey just how valuable voting is from a Jewish perspective. ◆ I could go back to the time of Moses and then the period of the judges, as the Israelites were creating the most egalitarian society their world had ever seen, a time when God was saying to them again and again, ‘you don’t need a king; just choose good leaders!’ ◆ I could offer up the rabbis of the Talmud who railed against God when God tried to get in the way of a majority vote. ◆ Or I could remind all of us that for over 2000 years we were the stranger in the strange land with no rights, no advocates, no representatives, no voice, no vote.
The need to organize our society through good leadership and egalitarian principles has been at the center of Judaism from the very beginning. When we have been denied the right to direct leadership and equality, we have too often found ourselves preyed upon by others. And when we have gotten in our own way in choosing good, worthy, leaders and supporting equality and respect, we have been a danger to ourselves. As a rabbi and a Jew, my frame of reference comes from more than 3000 years of Jewish tradition and law and thought and argument. Nevertheless, this need to organize society through good leadership and egalitarian principles is as true for any member of our community, our society.
We have not always had the fortune of living in a country where we had the right to choose our leadership. We have not always been welcome to be a part of the decision making process. We have not always had a voice, a vote. The right to vote has not always been assured to all not even here in the great bastion of democracy—the United States of America. In this country it was an uphill battle for women, for people of color to be able to vote. Even today, we have citizens of this nation that are intimidated not to vote through miscommunication, manipulation and over the top voter identification laws. But throughout American history, we, as Americans, and we, as Jews, have stood up for the rights of each and every individual to be a part of the democratic process. Time and time again, we have echoed the words of W. E. B. Du Bois and the Niagara Movement:
And while we are demanding and ought to demand, and will continue to demand the rights enumerated above, God forbid that we should ever forget to urge corresponding duties upon our people: The duty to vote; The duty to respect the rights of others; The duty to work; The duty to obey the laws; The duty to be clean and orderly; The duty to send our children to school; the duty to respect ourselves, even as we respect others. (The Niagara Movement Declaration of Principles, 1908)
This has always been our charter—vote, respect, work, obey the law, educate ourselves and our children, fight for the rights of everyone in our community, vote. If we do not vote—if we abandon our responsibility as citizens of this nation then we have abandoned our rights as well.
Clearly this imperative, this responsibility to vote has found a home amongst us Jews, for, while we are less than 3% of the population in the US, we represent the swing vote in a number of states, such as, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania and California. We have historically had one of, if not the, highest rate for voter turnout amongst any minority group and we are considered to have some of the strongest lobbying groups in the country. But, recently our dedication to the democratic process has been wavering. We have been more reticent, we have not come out to vote en-masse and today a large percentage of Jews are not even registered to vote.
But, without question, as Jews, we have a responsibility to create an egalitarian society, to choose good and worthy leaders, to lend our voice, to vote. In Pirkei Avot, the Chapters of our Fathers, “Hillel says: Al tifros min ha-tzibor—Do not separate yourself from the community…” (Chapter II Mishnah 5) We do not live in a vacuum from which we can watch the world and say, “that doesn’t affect me it is over there and I am over here.” Rather, we live in community and the needs and the problems of the community lay in our hands and on our shoulders as much as they burden our neighbor.
In a few moments, I am going to read from Nitzavim, my very favorite Torah portion. I am going to speak the words of our holiest text reiterating for all of us that we all stand here this day—the leaders and the laborers, men and women, Jew and stranger. Even those who are not here must be considered when considering how the community will work as a whole. If the community is in our hands and on our shoulders, then it is upon us to vote in every election in every year [I do a sermon on voting every four years, but in truth I should be doing this every year for every year there are important issues and races on the ballot. How do I know that? because every issue and race on our ballot matters in the creation of our society.] It is upon us to make ourselves heard by those that represent our corner of the world, whether that be the people who sit on our local boards or the president of the United States of America. We must use our vote as a statement, a declaration of community, responsibility, and care for our fellow human being. When we refrain from voting, we effectively separate ourselves from not only our governing bodies, but from our communities as well.
As Elie Wiesel once said, “Is silence the answer? It never was.”
Even as I implore you, no demand that you vote, I am not going to tell you who to vote for. I won’t even stand here and tell you to vote for candidates that believe X or disavow Y. I am not going to follow the dangerous path that a number of my colleagues, of all faiths, seem so determined to go down—I am not going to mix party politics with the pulpit.
I will, however, share one of the great lessons of Judaism with regards to politics and choosing good and worthy leaders and the like. The rabbis of the Talmud were arguing over the real meaning behind the verse from Psalms, “This is the generation and those who seek its welfare” (Psalms 24:6). As we are told, Rabbi Judah the Patriarch and the sages differed in this matter. One opinion was that the character of the generation is determined by its leader. According to the other opinion, the character of the leader is determined by the generation.” (Arachin 17a) No matter which opinion is correct the case remains the same—we are a reflection of our leadership and our leadership is a reflection of us. If you were to be that leader, what sort of world would you want to create? How would you shape your community? As a community that is blessed with the opportunity to elect our own leaders, to truly shape our leadership, the onus is on us to choose wisely people whose design is to create the society that we wish for. The character of our leaders is intertwined with the character of the generation that elects said leader; whomever we vote for or don’t vote for will define the character of our community—from our local community all the way up to our nation as a whole.
I will not tell you who to vote for. I will tell you to consider what you vote for. I will tell you to hear the words of the prophet Isaiah calling to us from our past, reflecting our present, offering us a better vision of our future:
Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to unlock the shackles of injustice, to loosen the ropes of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to tear every yoke apart? Surely it is to share your bread with the hungry, and to bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked to cover them never withdrawing yourself from your kin…. If you remove lawlessness from your midst, the pointing finger, the malicious word; if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted; then your light shall shine in the darkness and your night become as bright as noon…you shall be like a garden overflowing with water, like a spring that never fails…you shall be called Repairer of the breach, Restorer of streets to dwell in.
We are Jews. We have a responsibility to pursue justice. We have an obligation to reach out to one another when we are in need. We have a duty to work for the whole of our community. Only then can we create a community, a nation that can bring light where there is darkness. Only then will we have plenty where once there was scarcity. Only then can we repair the breach and restore our streets.
I have a challenge for you: If we are to be true to our Jewish heritage, if we are to follow the wise counsel that Jethro gave to Moses to choose capable and trustworthy people who understand the laws and precepts of our society, if we are to choose the leaders that reflect the character of our generation, then we must become informed on every issue and every candidate that we will be faced with to the best of our ability. We must have a sense of where the candidates stand on: Health Care; Economic Justice; Immigration; Israel & the Peace Process; LGBTQ Rights; Criminal Justice Reform; Voting Rights; Foreign Aid; Education; Climate Change; Environmental Protection; Judicial Nominations; Reproductive Rights; Stem Cell Research, Gun Control. We have to know what our presidential candidates stances are on these issues but we also need to know the views and opinions of those running for the Senate and the House (both nationally and state) as well as those running for the county offices, the district governing bodies, the boards of education, the city councils, TRPA. And we have to be familiar enough with all of the measures and resolutions and initiatives and referendum that shape our society. Listen, the truth of the matter is that we live in a nation where we don’t have to have any background knowledge of anything really to vote. We can go into the booth and vote for someone because we like how their name sounds. No one is quizzing you before you mark your ballot to make sure that you have done your due diligence. And so, here I am. I am asking you to do your due diligence. I am asking you to really know who and what you are voting for and why. I am asking you to vote for the community you want to create, the character of our generation. I am asking you to vote.
In the words of Michael Walzer, the great communitarian:
Wherever we live, it is probably Egypt. There is, there really is, a better place, a promised land. And there is, there really is, a promised time. And there is no way to get from here to there, from now to then, except by joining together and marching—and sometimes stumbling—through the wilderness, watching this time not for signs and wonders, but for an opportunity to act.
-Michael Walzer, Exodus and Revolution, adapted
Our opportunity to act will come to us November 8th.
One last thing, during my research for the high holy days in general, I came across a congregation in Brooklyn that does a lot of creative liturgy and, in particular, I came across this one blessing by one of their congregants, Susan Hamovitch, “On entering a voting booth:
Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melekh ha-olam, who has granted human beings the capacity to cooperate in the running of a peaceful society.”
(http://www.kolotchayeinu.org/blessings_and_prayers)
Our opportunity to act, our opportunity to cooperate in the running of a peaceful society, will come to us November 8th—get out and vote!
