Vote early, vote often

Here in Israel, we’re all busy gearing up for Election Day (i.e. Yom HaBechirot, for the Hebraically-oriented amongst you).

Which isn’t as easy as it sounds. In fact, the period leading up to elections is always very tense and stressful.

I mean, not only are our phones ringing off the hook as various and sundry would-be MKs call us “personally” to beg for our votes, but our inboxes and Facebook newsfeeds are overflowing with election-related posts – both serious ones as well as  countless versions of the following, um, “prayer”:

רבונו של עולם! תן לי "כח להשפיע" על "עם שלם", להתפלל ב"נץ", לעשות את "העבודה" ב"מרץ", לפעול כדי ש"התנועה" תהיה תמיד "קדימה", ללמוד את ה"שס" ולזכור שעיקר ה"יהדות" היא "התורה". יהי רצון שיהיה בעמנו "איחוד לאומי" ו"ליכוד" של כל חלקי העם וש"ביתנו" יהיה "בית יהודי" אחד גדול, כי "יש עתיד" ו"עוצמה לישראל"!

And then there’s the small matter of deciding which party deserves our vote.

Indeed, many voters (including myself, although YZG and the Shiputzim family’s first-time voters have all made up their minds) continue to waver between ideological and strategic voting and probably won’t make a final decision until arriving at their local polling stations tomorrow IY”H.

But IMHO, the biggest challenge is trying to figure out how we’re going to cram nearly four years’ worth of Sunday activities into a single day…

May tomorrow’s elections bring besurot tovot, yeshu’ot v’nechamot (good tidings, salvation, and consolation) for Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael, and Torat Yisrael.