Giving Strength to "Jewish Power"

17 Elul 5779

Otzma Yehudit = "Jewish Power"

There is a certain "right-wing" party with a woman at its head whose last attempt at gaining power for herself ended in tens of thousands of "wasted" votes.  Now she calls for Likud to go and take Otzma's voters, since they are sure to become "wasted" votes - according to her calculations.  What kind of chutspah is that?!

I've been going back and forth about this in my mind all day long. Here are a few random thoughts.

Despite everything else, Otzma Yehudit does represent a voice which rings, not just with words of Torah, but with deeds of Torah.  Also, because they are so publicly connected to Rabbi Kahane, may God avenge his blood, it is almost like showing all those who deride "Kahanism" just how much support there still is for him and for his path, thirty years after he was banned from election and then murdered. I had great expectations from NOAM and was very disappointed about their withdrawal.  Actually, I was even more disappointed when NOAM and Otzma decided not to run together, although I blamed Otzma for that.

When I asked my Rav what he thought about it, this was his reply, which I use here with his permission:

Rabbi Dov Lior supports them.  He is a very big Talmid chacham.  I have known many of the leaders of Otzma for decades, they are people that strive for truth, though they are not Rav Kahane.  Though it is by far not a simple issue for me to vote for the Knesset, my leaning would be Otzma.

I also wrestle with this question of voting, at every election.  At least we take it seriously.  In the end, the way I've handled it is that if there is a real Torah alternative to vote for, I would give them my support, if for no other reason than to stand up and be counted on the side of right and good.  And I feel at this point that with Otzma Yehudit, although it's not my ideal, there is still what to vote for.  Therefore, God willing, I hope to cast a vote to strengthen Jewish power in our Holy Land tomorrow, b'li neder, since maybe WWIII will cancel it!  We never know what is coming next!

I've only just now found the names for the revised list since Dr. Michael Ben Ari, Baruch Marzel and Bentzy Gopshtein were disqualified.  It took some time to find adequate references to get a good picture of who they are.  I have to say that I am impressed.  Here are the names of those taking the first four positions on the Otzma Yehudit list:

1) Itamar Ben Gvir - civil rights attorney, resident of Hevron.

2) Dr. Adva Biton - holds a doctorate in medical chemistry,  but may be best  know as the mother of little Adele Biton who was hit by a rock thrown by a hostile Arab and died after two years in hospital.

3) Yitzhak Wasserlauf - a 26-year-old from Tel Aviv who has a National Religious background.

4) Rav Meir David Cooperschmidt - touted as Otzma's "chareidi" candidate, this 27-year-old rabbi and father of two grew up in Betar Ilit.

There is what to vote for, so how can I abstain?