KFAR CHABAD, Israel [CHI] — Elections are being held today in the small Hasidic village of Kfar Chabad, and women have the ability to vote, unlike Crown Heights.
Women, Widows Have Voting Rights in Kfar Chabad
KFAR CHABAD, Israel [CHI] — Elections are being held today in the small Hasidic village of Kfar Chabad, and women have the ability to vote, unlike Crown Heights.
voting rights for women has been a hotly debated topic in Crown Heights during the most recent elections for Vaad Hakohol. Eli Federman, a Crown Heights resident, raised the issue in a New York Times article – a move for which he was criticized.
Zaki Tamir, current chairman of the Vaad Hakohol, was quoted in an article printed in the Jewish newspaper ‘Forward’ that he intended to address the issue of women voting.
In Kfar Chabad there are approximately 800 eligible voters, with one vote alloted per household – including widows.
The current Vaad chairman, Binyomin Lifshitz, is seeking reelection along with Shaul Beitch, Yankeleh Kenig, Chaim Reichman, Mendel Gurevitch, Yossi Ashkenazi and Gershom Ohana.
The former Vaad Chairman, Mencham Lerrer, who was ousted by Lifshitz 7 years ago, formed an opposition group which includes Yona Prus, Shea Segal, Shimon Rabinovitch and Mendy Bastomsky.
Also running are a group of independent candidates which include Elazar Gelbshtein, Zami Lipsker, Eitan Mizrachi, Chaim Noishtat, Mulik Rivkin, Shmulik Schneerson and Yisrael Yeret.
Ballots are set to open in about an hour, and close later this evening.
get your facts
small … village ….. kfar chabad is neither at this point … there are over 1000 families living there
CHabad
WOMEN have rights even in Chabad! Tznius is a chosheve thing, but still basic rights are supposed to be addressed in our community.
Moshiach now!
Let the Women Vote
Way to go Kfar Chabad. I hope to see Crown Heights follow suit.
Confused
This is very unclear. Only widows can vote, right?
Andrea Schonberger
You go GIRLS!!!
a non-voting longtime CR female resident
How forward thinking and with-it we are in Crown Heights.
The powers that be are actually considering implementing Women’s Sufferage.
Wow!!!!!!
to confused
It is one vote per household.This presumably means widowed,
single, or divorced women would cast the vote (for their household.) and about time too
R. Gould
So what is the issue here, Crown Heights and all Torah communities should immediately put into place a similar systems. This is not about women or men voting this is about each household getting one vote. While there are many traditional homes with a husband and wife, there are equally many single parent homes, the Torah commands us to take care of widows and orphans. So how can we NOT allow the head of the household to vote, if that person is a woman, she must be upheld in society and not embarrassed. Not allowing her to vote or participate in local affairs would bring a bushah upon her and her household.
Additionally we must also remember that a community we put heart and soul into educating our young women to be leaders in their own right, the Rebbitzim OMB of our dear departed Rebbe who was very forward thinking was certainly a brilliant woman and our daughters are taught to look up to her as a role model. To say that she did not influence the Rebbe would be foolish, We all know that Sarah was Greater than Avraham and she too had a great part in influencing the building of Klal Yisrael.
In summary I can find no valid reason not to change the current system ASAP. Men you have nothing to fear but fear itself.
come on
Cut out the pathetic sensationalism!
gov vs halacha
i heard that women have the right to vote because the Israeli government requires that they be allowed to (as the council is a government entity unlike in CH) – BUT in practice those that do vote do so by sending a representative (a son / son-in-law etc.) to vote
michush
I’m confused? Didn’t the Rebbe deal with this issue years ago?
Previous res
Voting in Kfar Chabad is a very unique thing in general and local politics. The reason Israeli media make a mention of the village voting in every election is that it is the only place that you can get a complete picture of how Chabad votes.Knowing that everyone is watching how we vote would benefit the insular CH community.
levi
Halevai the women of CH reach 5% the ztnius level of those in Kfar Chabad. I think there are more important issues at hand
to Levi
To generalize like that– “the women” of ch should reach the women of kc’s tznius level– what a horrible and untrue thing to say!
You cannot, under any circumstances make petty and offensive assumptions like thus!! Unless you have knocked on the doors of every single home in ch and measured each woman and girl according to the halachic standards– you CANNOT say that the “women” in ch are not even a cinch tznius in comparison to ANYONE
How rude.
Annonymous
I don’t think that voting is an issue of tznius here yes there should be seperate voting. I do remember once that the women and the men voted here in Crown Heights. Not all sons are allowed to vote especially if they are not in the age group. How about all those women who have no sons or sons-in-laws.
to 14
Please be part of the solution and not part of the problem. You are just sweeping the obvious under the carpet, andputing your head in the sand pretending that you dont see
What does Tzinus have to do with Voting?
Women should be allowed to vote in CH just as they are in Kfar Chabad and just as we allow them to vote in any popular election in society. Stop mixing apples and oranges by bringing Tzinus into this. Voting rights and tzinus issues are separate.
Not familiar
To #2 I’m not familiar….Could you help me out and mention some of those rights?
Just an idea!
Take a poll? Has there ever been a poll taken in Crown Heights? What if there were one for all women in the community? Maybe it could go something like this: “Do you think women in our community should have the right to vote? Why or why not? ” Then give the same poll to all men. Do you have a guess as to the results? Do you need empirical evidence? Is it against any law within the community to spearhead such an activity? Why or why not?!?!