Important Message by Rabbi Joey Haber on the importance of Voting

After I got married, I went to Israel for a year to learn in Brisk and I lived in Israel. One day I was sitting on a bus and it was during a big election cycle in the Israeli elections and I was sitting on a bus and I saw like a religious newspaper there. Now, if you know how it works in Israel, there are big parties, religious parties that go for votes in the seats in the in the Israeli Knesset. One of the big parties is the Shas party. It's run by and his family, the Shas party. Any I pick up this newspaper and I saw this little clip. I was so entertained by it that I cut it out and I saved in my pocket like for the DAX for like the joke that I say guys you guys see how crazy Israeli elections are and I saved it. Happens to me just now when I was moving back to Brooklyn and I'm putting things into my drawers. I saw something a stack of some of the old things that I saved and I found it. So this is 29 years old from a newspaper in Israel. 29 years old. Let me explain to you what this is. You know when a person does a mitzvah there is a little prayer you say before the mitzvah it's called the it's like you're asking Hashem to have the right kavan like some people do it before they put on before they pray before they pray. Some people do it before they count the allmet every night. It's a way to put yourself and ask Hashem for the right conviction. This is a a prayer you're supposed to say before you vote. name of please I am prepared I'm prepared to do avah from the to listen to the voice of our rabbis and I'm about to do They're going to see people care about Hashem. They're going to see people care about Hashem's. That's why we're voting for the parties that we're voting for. So I am about to vote to do a mitzvah of listening to the rabbis to do avah and I'm considering the delegates as a shy for me to do the mitzvah. I'm going to vote and they're going to perform the for me and everything that those people that are members of the house of the everything that they able to do to cause me is all my mitzvah. And it should be your will that this should be as if I had all of the right. This is not for praying. This is not for putting on. This is not for eating matah. This is for going to vote because going to vote is a mitzvah. And the reason why going to vote is a mitzvah is because going to vote is about spirituality. Going to vote is not voting and fighting for your body. You're fighting for your soul. And when you're fighting for your soul, that's when you have to take the matters into your own hands. right here, right now. The things that are up for grabs in our city, the issues that are on the table are issues that will affect Yeshivot, the issues that will affect Jewish lifestyle, the issues that will affect Jewish safety and going to schools, issues that will affect other people's income, which is also a mitzvah for you to care about. So to register to vote as a mitzvah, and to go and vote as a mitzvah, because that's what's up for grabs right now. Things that have to do with the nish. If you were just going to vote to make another $100, maybe you could say, "Hashem, I have don you'll take care of my $100." But if you're going to vote for your soul, just like you can't get up and say, "Hashem, you have mercy on the bird, which means you have mercy on my body. So therefore, have mercy on me, have mercy on my soul, and you take care of my nish." Hashem says, "No, it's not my job to take care of your job to take care of your nish." In essence, if I could say it this way, I'll say it this way, and I hope it's not too bold. If you only believe in voting, then you don't believe in Hashem. But if you don't vote, then you don't care about Hashem. Again, if you only believe in voting, then you don't believe in Hashem because you think there's power in the vote. But if you don't vote, then you don't care about Hashem. What's the story of Kanuka? The story of Kanuka is our values were at stake. Our Torah learning, our Shabbat, our values were at stake. So you know what people did? The hash didn't get up and say we have it's a decree from Hashem. They got up and they said we have to fight. The 2025 version of fighting in United States of America is casting your vote.