The Daily Shiur by Moreinu HaRav Eliezer Berland shlit”a, from Monday, Parshat Ki Tisa, the night of 18 Adar-Alef, after Ma’ariv:
In another ten hours – 6:10 is sunrise, everyone pray the Amidah without exception — men, women, boys, girls; everyone needs to pray the Amidah. There is ten hours to sleep. Everyone run now to bed, sleep exactly ten hours, and after ten hours, we need to pray the Amidah. And immediately after the Amidah, we go to the ballot boxes. At seven, the ballot boxes open. Because to place a ballot is not elections; this is nonsense! Whoever invented the word “elections” is in error – this is the war of Amalek. We read in the Parasha: “Every man, put his sword on his thigh” – they want to make a golden calf. They make in Kibbutzim calves and dance around the calf. They want to walk around without clothes; they want to hold marches of abomination. They want to open up non-kosher stores; they want to uproot religion from the entire world, not only in the Land of Israel. We are now in the war of Amalek.
And this now… Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, whose neighbor I was for twenty years, would always go to the elections first. He said this is the first mitzvah [which precedes] all the mitzvot – this is a matter of life and death. It is written in “Tzaddik Yesod Olam” from the Zvhil’ke, Rabbi Shlomke of Zvhil: Not to go to elections is like eating on Yom Kippur. It is worse, because one is guilty in the non-kosher stores, guilty in the marches of abomination, and one is guilty in all the licentiousness, and one is guilty in all the desecration of God’s Name, and the desecration of Shabbat.
Therefore, the Chazon Ish said – now Rav Dov Landau, the Rosh Yeshiva of Slabodka, read this, which he heard from the Chazon Ish word-for-word, that we are obligated to go to elections. He says that this is the war of Amalek; this is a war over life and death! Or they will wipe us all out. What they want now is to draft all the yeshiva bachurim. Whoever doesn’t go to the army, they’ll put in jail for a hundred years, two hundred years. And in the army it means immediately becoming Hiloni (secular). “The army is the best…,” he says. “We will establish yeshivas for you, make yeshivas for you; you’ll learn day and night.” Because the army is the greatest impurity in the world. On the spot, a bachur cuts off his peot, cuts off his beard. And on the spot, he changes his clothes to clothes with drawings, to indecent clothes. [Regarding] going to the army, [the halachah of] “be killed and do not transgress” [applies]. The Chazon Ish ruled that this is “be killed and do not transgress,” both for boys and girls. Because this is mamash to become an apostate in one second, worse than Christianity. Because even in Christianity, they maintain modesty, maintain separation [between men and women]. On Yom Kippur, they gave murderous blows, broke down the separation, broke down the partition, like at the Kotel [before the founding of the State, when the British] broke down the partition.
Therefore, you need to know that at seven in the morning, everyone is found at the ballot boxes, place the ballot of “Gimmel” without any questions. And anyone who doesn’t vote, it’s like he ate pork, and worse than this!
And everyone should know that there is only one party, which is “Gimmel,” which is for keeping Shabbat, for stores [in] holiness. And through this, may the complete redemption come speedily in our days, Amen!
