HaRav Avrohom Genichovsky zt"l
Forty years ago, a yeshiva student from Yeshivas Tchebin sought advice from HaRav Avrohom Genichovsky as follows:
"I live in Haifa and it is difficult for me to travel there back and forth in order to vote (in those days, it was an exhausting trip of a few stages). Am I exempt from my obligation on the grounds of time wasted from Torah study?"
HaRav Genichovsky replied, "The last posek of our generation was the Chazon Ish, and if he ordered yeshiva students to go and vote, this is explicit daas Torah and nowadays there is no one who can challenge it."
The student continued to ask: "My yeshiva, Yeshivas Tchebin, is close to the Satmar neighborhood. I was asked to leave my I.D. card by them [to assure that I would not vote in a State election] in exchange for $100 (a large sum in those days). Am I permitted to do this?" He was hoping to avoid the trip.
The Rav said emphatically, "If the Chazon Ish ruled that it is obligatory to vote, there is no heter to disobey. You are duty-bound to travel to Haifa to vote. As for wasting time from Torah study, you can make up for it en route." The student obeyed this directive of daas Torah.
Incidentally: several weeks later, HaRav Genichovsky sought out the student and gave him $100, saying that he did not him to lose out because of his ruling!
