By COLlive reporter
Residents of Kfar Chabad, a Chassidic village in central Israel, are voting today (Wednesday) on their representatives for the next five years.
The last election for Vaad Kfar Chabad, as the elected body is called, was held 7 years ago (its term was extended). Its estimated population is 5,100.
Vaad Chairman Binyomin Lifshitz is running with Shaul Beitsch, Yankel Kenig, Chaim Reichman, Mendel Gurevitch, Yossi Ashkenazi and Gershom Ohana.
A rival group is headed by former Vaad Chairman Menachem Lerer who is joined by Yona Prus, Shea Segal, Shimon Rabinovich and Mendy Bostomsky.
Running independently are Mulik Rivkin (owner of COL media group), Zami Lipsker, Chaim Noishtat, Yisrael Yeret, Shmulik Schneerson, Elazar Gelbstein and Eitan Mizrachi.
The election committee has notified that, “eligible voters who cannot come to the ballot in person, can give the option to their spouses (only) to vote instead of him only with power of attorney statement.”
It added that, “In accordance with the permission of the rabbinical committee (from the elections in 5743) it was decided to give the right to vote to widows.”
The move to include female voters might surprise some across the Atlantic, where women voting continues to be a strongly debated issue in the Brooklyn Chassidic neighborhood.
But the village’s Rabbi Mordechai Shmuel Ashkanazi, a scholar and author in the code of Jewish law Shulchan Aruch, says he is more concerned about the election process.
“I am hoping the elections will be done with achdus from all sides and not include any lashon hara and pashkvilim,” the rabbi said in a phone conversation with COLlive.com Wednesday morning.
Regarding women being able to come to the voting station, he said: “It has never been an issue. We’ve been allowing women to vote for years now.”
He said each household in the village has a single vote, no matter who lives there – a wife whose husband is traveling, a divorcee, or a widow.
Asked if there was a halachic basis to the refusal for women to vote in Crown Heights, Rabbi Ashkenazi replied, “You need to ask them. Maybe (they have an issue) because of tznius… I didn’t find any (problem with it).”
I would love to be directed to the Rebbe’s references to impending changes for the women’s role in the community. Were there specifics?
I was listening to one of the Rebbe’s talks from several years ago. In it he referred to changes that were eminent in the role of women in the community. Can it be that there is actually going to be change eventually leading to voting? The Rebbe was attuned to the future of change. This is acknowledged in several of his talks. Who can testify to this? If necessary, I will find some of those instances and send people to those examples, but I wanted to bring up that notion to see where it goes.
It makes sense that perhaps the women’s right to vote may develop into a desire to run for office. Then, what would happen to a woman’s main function in the community? ….On the other hand, it doesn’t make sense to me that a husband and wife would always have the same preference…..On the other hand, it seems that the men run the show in the community outside the home, so maybe they believe they have more of a right to an opportunity to voice their choice…..It seems very complex, unless it is a strictly rule-based issue that will define the… Read more »
Maybe the couple who can’t handle the husband and wife having a different opinion on something should go for counseling.
very simple! my exact thoughts!
One family ,one vote.
why? and to number 6– its not crown heights.
Eli Federman was right, there is nothing against Halacha by women voting (according to Harav Ashkenazi the Rav of Kfar Chabad for years) I know many women in C”H that are wishing to vote, do to the fact that their husband don’t care AND the women do care to know who will be in charge of the community that her kids are being raised.
CHCC get out of the box !
if you and your husband can’t agree together on who to vote for, maybe sholom Bayis counseling is in order.
Most couples fall into one of the following categories: 1. Husband and wife are in agreement and the husband casts the vote on behalf of his wife.. 2. Husband and wife are not in agreement and the husband casts the vote despite his wife. 3. Wife doesn’t really care all that much about the elections because she is busy with the politics of running a home and she is confident in her husband’s ability to to vote for whichever candidate would be most beneficial for the family and the community. These groups are likely evenly distributed among our local population.… Read more »
Don’t you know reading? It is NOT said that married women vote alongside their husbands, but that they vote IF their husbands cannot. Because a widow or a divorcee is considered a household to herself, she also can go voting. But nowhere is said that in a household, the husband and the wife can vote. Only the man do it, and only if he cannot go voting, the woman vote for teh household. Second, Rav Ashkenazi implicitely said that each community is different. So, there is no point in comparing KC and CH. These are two distinct communities.Something allowed here… Read more »
What’s the point of this article? Kfar Chabad is Kfar Chabad, Crownh Heights is Crown Heights. The Rebbe made it clear that each Lubavitch community should follow the local Rov. So, to compare Kfar Chabad and CH situations is non-sense. I know many places in Eretz Yisroel where wearing a sheitel in not acceptable. What should we do? To follow the local custom or to claim that because in Ch it’s acceptable, we don’t have to follow the local custom? The Rebbe said that in places where a sheitel is not accepted, we should conform to the local policy and… Read more »
That is even more shocking and asinine. How can the majority vote away the right of the minority to vote? Rights are designed to protect the minority. That is just wrong and belies our democratic values. Even if five women want a vote they should have that right to representation. If they chose not to exercise that right that is their prerogative….. Furthermore, why should the daughters of those who voted away their right suffer that fate? This is like punishing the children for their parents sins…. CH needs to stop making up Halacha to justify discrimination in a secular… Read more »
Don’t worry, he makes all the big decisions……
Mazal tov on Nossis upcoming Chasunah !
Didn’t the women in Crown Heights choose this way?
to# 6
please when making a statment “the rebbe said” please give a source so we can check and see what the rebbe said
people make up stories the rebbe said this and the rebbe said that. whne they have source to show where he said it.
i am not saying the rebbe did or did not i would just like people to show a source so we cann look and see what the rebbe said
and maybe collive should have that as a policy not to allow people to say things in the rebbes name without a source
Why do women need a “power of attorney statement” or permission from their husbands to vote? That’s just wrong.
Give your source for where the Rebbe said that
Where exactly did the Rebbe say that?
I doubt that husbands consult with their wives when it comes to casting a vote. One vote per household means de facto discrimination, especially as there is no mechanism in place to guarantee that a vote is cast only when both parties are in agreement. If both husband and wife are given the right to vote they will either vote in synchrony, or cancel the other’s vote.
I suspect that the main concern is that if women are give the right to vote they will also want the right to run for office.
Looks like Mr. Federman was not radical after all. Even Kfar Chabad allows it.
the rebbe said women should not vote in crown heights. why is kf”c different?
Every household gets one vote…work it out.
People make an issue out of nothing.
Why can’t women vote even if their husband does, if there is no source in Halacha then why can’t they vote on their own?
It seems that a woman is only allowed to vote if she is widowed. I wouldn’t call that equality.
Does a widow have to present her husband’s death certificate in order to vote?
What a cute couple!!