As Israelis took to the polls today, many voters around the country were greeted by a unifying sight that stood out among the usual collection of posters and activists urging them to vote for one party or another. It was a volatile election season, in which parties struggled to prove why their slate would be best for the future of Israel.
Yet near polling stations across the country, Chabad-Lubavitch emissaries and volunteers set up stations where voters had the opportunity or were encouraged to do some of the things that collectively would strengthen Israel: Men putting on tefillin. Women lighting Shabbat candles. Everyone engaging in Torah study and prayer.
The booths were festooned with handbills that looked similar to the campaigns posters but read, “It doesn’t matter whom you choose. At the Chabad booth, we choose tefillin.”
“Everyone is waiting at the polling stations,” said Rabbi Moni Ender of Chabad Youth Organization of Israel, which sponsored the project, ”to be reminded what is really important in life—Torah, tefillin and Shabbat candles.”
