Exclusive: Monsey Elections – How To Choose?

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By a Monsey, NY, resident

Like most Americans, I’m fed up with the presidential election.  But as a Monsey resident for over 25 years, I’m a bit weary over our local elections, too.

The process is always the same:  askanim present us with endorsements the day before, if not the day of, the election.  These instructions are said to be for the good of our community and on behalf of the rabbonim.

But let’s be honest:  are we really better off than we were years ago?  There’s more overdevelopment, more traffic and more building and fire safety issues.  And all of this seems headed in only one direction – worse.

It’s not like our candidates have burnished our reputation either.  Our town has been the subject of incredibly negative press – from the Town Board to the School Board – locally, statewide, and even nationally.  (A pretty amazing accomplishment for a small-town school board.)  Of course, a candidate for statewide office has an even bigger platform to do damage.

Which leads to their next argument:  ok, our candidates aren’t so great, but we can’t let in the opposition candidates – they’ll take away our yeshivos, they’re anti-Semitic!

Maybe.  But I think our elected officials feed the hatred against us.  And then they cry we need them even more, so they can do more damage, and cry how we need them even more, etc., etc.  I can’t help thinking we’re stoking the flames ourselves.

But the clincher for me is the last argument – that the askanim are only communicating how the rabbonim want us to vote.

Really?  I’ve spoken to some rabbonim whose names appeared on recent “endorsements.”  They clearly and emphatically said not to use their names, and even supported different candidates.  Yet, this didn’t stop these stout-hearted askanim from spreading their word as they see fit.

We need to fix this system.  This year, I have a new way of voting.  I’ll wait for the askanim lists, and then I won’t vote for their candidates, whether or not I vote for anyone else.  Maybe it’ll make a difference, maybe it won’t.  But looking in the mirror will be a little easier.

{Matzav.com}


14 COMMENTS

  1. This writer says that Names of rabbonim have been associated with endorsements which they did not in fact support.

    Maybe, however I find it difficult to accept such a claim when it is not even signed anonymously.

  2. This writer says that Names of rabbonim have been associated with endorsements which they did not in fact support.

    Maybe, however I find it difficult to accept such a claim when it is not even signed anonymously.

  3. Same with me. As someone who remembers what Monsey used to look like, I will be voting for whoever will be the one to put a lid on the over development.

  4. Take a chill pill. Don’t stay away from the voting booth – let the goyishe politicians see that the Jews are voting – that will make them think twice before pushing some antisemitic gezeiros. If you don’t like your particular askanim, become actively involved yourself in your local politics. Also, keep in mind that your town’s reputation was not tarnished by your school board, but by the old-timer antisemits and the liberal-totalitarian coalition. The old timers just hate the frum Jews and the libs can’t allow to give up the central pillar of their brainwashing system – the public schools. You are supposed to cough up 15k a year property tax to pay for the liberal indoctrination centers sometimes referred to as public schools, you see. Therefore get politically involved and direct your righteous indignation at the outside forces who are trying to hurt the frum community.

  5. It is a well-proven fact that very frequently the “best candidate” for those in charge IS NOT the “best candidate” for the Frum Community at large.

    Let the “voter beware”.

  6. Why do you fail to mention the names of the rabbonim who have been misquoted?? It does not make you sound credible. Also, what is your relationship to Matzav.com other than a ______ ______?

  7. Do we care more about traffic or providing housing for fellow Jews? Not everyone can afford to build a nice house on a 1 acre piece of property with all the taxes that come along with it. I think we in Monsey need to stop worrying about how we can prevent more housing for fellow Jews and start becoming more concerned about where we will fit everyone. I live in Monsey. I would be happier to know a fellow Jew has a place to live for him and his family and get stuck in traffic every day…….that’s just me….and no I AM NOT AN ASKIN. Let’s try and think of looking out for each other at the polls and stop asking Rabbonim obvious questions.

    • If someone can’t afford a neighborhood what is normally done is move to a newer jewish community. Its not a new thing. Their was a time flatbush hardly had a huge community. Etc.

  8. As a parent involved in my kids school, I will try to give you some insight to where Monsey is headed if we vote against the local askanim. The current voted officials in Rockland county have an agenda to close down every jewish school in all of rockland county. they are making the life of school administrators a nightmare in its fullest sense. If they succeed C”V then there is no future for our mosdos. That will pale in comparison to your traffic annoyances. The growth of the jewish community in Rockland will not slow down as long as there is a housing crisis in Brooklyn. Monsey will keep on growing and expanding in all directions at the same pace it is currently growing, the only choice you can vote for is if it will be done with hardship to fellow yidden or things will be easier for the klal.
    A first glance, it seems that the writer of this article is not thinking about others. but after rereading the article it seems that he is not ever having himself in mind. What future do his children have in a preserve ramapo controlled town?
    Please research the facts before posting such facts.

  9. Montesquieu’s division, followed in most Western democracies, is between legislature, executive and judiciary.

    In Judaism, primary legislation comes from God. Kings and the sages had the power to introduce only secondary legislation, to secure order and “make a fence around the law.” Hence in Judaism the king was the executive; the priesthood in biblical times was largely the judiciary.
    The “crown of Torah” worn by the prophets was a unique institution: a Divinely sanctioned form of social criticism – a task assumed in the modern age, not always successfully, by public intellectuals. There is today a shortage of prophets. Perhaps there always was.

  10. To the parent with knowledge:. “The current voted officials in Rockland County have an agenda to close down every Jewish school in Rockland County.” That is the silliest statement I have read today. If that is what you call “knowledge” and “insight,” you need to go back to school with your children. You are the victim of a scam, of scare tactics used to get people to vote for the choices of a few wealthy developers. Use your seichel. And btw, if the prince of Nigeria asks you to wire him money, don’t do it.

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