Vote - Our Future Depends On It

This coming Tuesday, New Yorkers will vote for Mayor, Public Advocate, Comptroller, Borough President, and City Council.  Unfortunately, many of the members of our community are not even registered to vote and our voices will not be heard.

Many of us feel that there are many things more important than politics and that voting is a waste of time.  It is true that there are many things more important than politics -but that is precisely why it is important that we participate in the political process.

One of our most important values is kol Yisrael arayvim ze lazeh – all Jews are responsible for each other.  Some of the most important decisions impacting the Jewish community are made by our elected officials. If we want to influence those decisions, we need to participate in the political process!

Each year, the United States provides more than $3 billion in military and economic assistance to Israel. This aid makes it possible for the IDF to have the weapons and technology necessary to defend Israel.

The doors of the Soviet Union opened because American political leaders like the late Senator Henry M. Jackson and others insisted that the issue of Soviet Jewry be placed on the agenda of major power negotiations.

Closer to home, we have built a beautiful community with shuls, yeshivot, mikvaot and eruvin. In many cases we had to overcome significant opposition to build these institutions. We were successful because our elected officials supported us.

Many of our most important communal institutions rely significantly on government funding allocated by our elected officials.

We have been successful in the past, because the Jewish community had a reputation for voting in large numbers.

But times are changing. Many of the people who built the Queens Jewish community have left the scene. Other communities, with legitimate needs of their own, have become more assertive and are competing with us for influence and resources.

The truth is that public officials are most responsive to people who vote.

As our Bukharian community becomes a larger part of the wider Jewish community, we need to step up and show leadership.

Politics is too important to be left to the politicians. If we really care about support for Israel and building and strengthening our community here, we must participate in the political process.

We can begin by registering to vote and enrolling as members of a political party.  In many cases, the real decisions about who gets elected are made in the Democratic and Republican primaries, not in the General Election. Enrolling in a party does not require you to vote for that party’s candidates in the General Election. It does allow you to vote in the primary, where the real decisions are made.

Important elections will be coming up over the next few years and the time to start preparing to be a part of it is now.

We need to participate in the political process like our future and the future of our community depends on it. Because it does.