Voting the Jewish way

For those of us in California this election season, we all know that this ballot is long. It’s not just the election, it’s all the propositions.  Seventeen from the State of California, three from LA County, and three more from the city.  If your counting, that’s twenty-three propositions to vote. !  Many people I know, however, start out voting all excited for their top candidate or two, but then get fatigued by the end of the ballot.  I know some voters who just start checking off names and such at the bottom of the ballot because they like the way they sound, or worse, they stop voting after national race.    

To fight the fatigue, I suggest vote the Jewish way.  Here’s how: In the universe of our obligations, it’s our local obligations that always that are the source of our first considerations.  The rabbis believed this when it comes to the allocation of the tzedakah, or charity “Between the poor of your town and the poor of another town, your town takes precedence” (T.B. Babba Metzia 71a).  The same is true for political engagement.  One is obligated first to fight against the sins of his or her household, then the city, and then the rest of the world. (T.B. Shabbat 54a).  Let’s use that same logic to the ballot.  Begin at the back.  Vote on the most local issues first.  Even though they don’t get great press, the local ballot measures will have the greatest impact on our  lives in the shortest amount of time. We should spend our most attentive moments on our city and then move out from there.   Most of us already know who we are voting for President.  Consider the national election the finish line, not the starting line for our civic engagement.  

Read the ballot like we read our bible, go from right-to-left.  From our local concerns to our national concerns.  It’s the Jewish way to read a book and the Jewish to vote. 

Noah Farkas is Associate Rabbi at Valley Beth Shalom in Encino, CA.