Rabbi Chaim Yerucham Smotrich addressed the spiritual significance of voting in a lesson he gave at Yeshivat Beit El in Netanya, explaining why he considers voting a mitzvah that must be treated with utmost seriousness.
“Is it a mitzvah and something holy? Yes," he said. Asked why no blessing is recited before voting, he replied that Jewish law has different rules governing blessings, and many mitzvot do not require one.
Rabbi Smotrich described his personal Election Day practice: “I wear a suit that day. On election morning, I put on a suit and go vote early, immediately after prayers. I don't eat beforehand, as is the law regarding a mitzvah. That's my practice."
He stressed that elections have implications far beyond politics. “We are crowning [our leaders] now," he said, explaining that the outcome affects matters of life and death, including war, the justice system and the economy. “It concerns our lives and the preservation of the nation's life. What could be more important than preserving the nation's life?" he asked.
Rabbi Smotrich also addressed opposition to a minority government relying on non-Jewish votes, invoking the Jewish legal principle of rov k'kulo - the majority representing the whole.
“In the Jewish people, this also applies, provided there is a majority. God forbid, if there is no majority - if the 61-seat majority is created through non-Jewish votes - the entire essence is uprooted," he said.
He emphasized that the issue was spiritual rather than merely political. “This is not administrative. It is not an administrative deficiency; it is a spiritual deficiency, an essential deficiency."
He concluded that participating in public decisions expresses the sanctity of the Jewish people as a collective: “Through this, we uphold and express the Jewish people as a whole, and that is holiness."