Opinion & Comment
Rally to United Torah Judaism

Yated Ne'eman is an independent newspaper, privately owned and financed. We endorse United Torah Judaism not because we must but because it stands for the same things that our newspaper stands for: respect and acceptance of daas Torah and the words of gedolei Yisroel.

In this election, the system returns to the form it had until about ten years ago: the voting population casts its vote for a party which thereby gets representatives ("seats") in the Knesset in proportion to its votes. The prime minister is the leader of the party that gets the most votes. There is only one ballot slip to cast: for United Torah Judaism.

As HaRav Eliashiv said three weeks ago, "At this time, there is no room for complacency. You must do whatever you can." Maran HaRav Eliashiv set a personal example this time, for the first time ever, in himself signing the call to support and vote for United Torah Judaism. (In the past he expressed his support orally and his son-in-law published what he had heard.) This is in itself a strong indication of the seriousness of the situation and the need for us to break out of our past patterns in order to vote for and support UTJ. Voting for UTJ is fulfilling a mitzvah of heeding the words of our Torah luminaries as they have called upon us, "and no one is allowed to absolve himself of this obligation."

Amazingly, some chareidim vote for secular parties, possibly including readers of Yated and certainly including friends and relatives of our readers. While it is true that UTJ does not project a position on some of the critical issues of the day (like a Palestinian state), some of the secular parties do promote positions on critical religious issues that are downright hostile to Torah values. For example, the official party platform of the Herut party calls for the draft of yeshiva students. Neither the Likud nor Ariel Sharon can be called, by any stretch of rhetoric, friends of the Jewish religion. Though they are not as abusive and confrontational as the Left, they will not save traditional Judaism, and certainly are not concerned with the future of Torah. Yahadus is critical for the Jewish people at all times, and UTJ will preserve it properly.

Many of our readers do not have the right to vote in the Israeli elections. What can they do?

Depending on where they live, they may be able to help. Although there is a certain amount of campaign financing from the government, a good part of the effort is from volunteers.

Perhaps more importantly, what they and everyone can do is to daven and say Tehillim. So much that affects so many Jews depends on the success of UTJ and on the particular configuration of political forces that result from the rest of the vote. The Israeli Jewish community is by far the largest in the world, and perhaps as large as all the others combined. The actions and orientation of the government here set the tone for world Jewry and have a strong effect on all Jews around the world. Election Day is thus very fateful for Jewry and we must use our true power, the koach hapeh of tefilloh, to beseech Hashem to have mercy upon us.

Whether by prayer, voting or voluntary efforts, we must step forward to be counted among the yirei Hashem so that all Klal Yisroel will merit the brochoh of the gedolim: ". . . to be saved from all trouble and travail, from every plague and sickness, and from the clutches of all those who try to do evil to us, and may our efforts to fulfill the desire of Hashem be successful to increase Torah and to glorify it, and may Klal Yisroel receive teshu'as olomim.

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