Here’s what Lech Lecha teaches about voting
Next Tuesday, people all over the country will go to the polls. Even though it’s not a presidential year, there are important contests — New York City is choosing a mayor, Nassau County an executive, New Jersey a governor. A few special congressional races are happening too. In some places, just a few thousand votes could make the difference, while in others, the outcome seems clear from the start.
But there is a question that can be in the back of our minds: Does any of this truly matter? If G-d already guides the course of history, what difference does my vote make?
I once heard Rabbi Larry Rothwachs connect this very question to our parsha, Lech Lecha. G-d tells Avraham during the Bris Bein HaBesarim (the Covenant Between the Parts), “Know for sure that your descendants will be foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and the people will enslave them and oppress them for 400 years” (Bereishis 15:13). The years of slavery were already fixed in advance, told to Avraham Avinu.
Yet when we look closely at how that story unfolds, we find human decisions affecting history.
Chazal explain that the exile began with the jealousy of Yaakov’s sons toward their brother Yosef and their choice to sell him into slavery. These were moral choices that carried real consequences.
As we see in the story of the Exodus, the Egyptians were later punished harshly for their cruelty. But this judgment only makes sense if their actions were chosen freely. If G-d had already said that the Jews would be enslaved for so many years, how can responsibility be given to the brothers’ jealousy of Yosef or to the Egyptians?
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as the exile predetermined, or was it the result of human wrongdoing? The Ramchal in Derech Hashem offers a profound answer. He teaches that G-d governs the world through two systems that operate simultaneously.
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The first is Hanhagas HaMishpat (divine justice), in which G-d responds to human behavior. In this system, we are given free will. Our choices matter, and we are accountable for them.
The second system is Hanhagas HaYichud (the unfolding of divine unity). This is the deeper current of history, the blueprint through which G-d’s plan moves toward the revelation of His oneness. On this level, nothing, not human error, political power, nor even rebellion, can halt the progress toward redemption.
Both systems operate together. We make real choices that carry real consequences, and yet beneath the surface of events, G-d’s plan moves forward, even through our mistakes. The Egyptian exile was both a punishment for selling Yosef and the fulfillment of G-d’s promise to Avraham.
This world can seem so chaotic. There are 8.2 billion people in the world making decisions every moment, and yet somehow, underlying all those decisions, G-d is moving the world in perfect order.
The analogy to quantum mechanics always stayed with me. At a subatomic level, there is total chaos, particles moving randomly in every direction. Yet on a macro level, when you take a step back, you realize that the physical universe operates according to consistent, unchanging laws.
The chaos on the micro level does not disrupt the order, symmetry, and beauty on the macro level. And both truths coexist simultaneously.
Similarly, even though human choices may appear chaotic and unpredictable, they do not interfere with G-d’s ultimate plan for history.
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When we enter the polling booth, we are not performing a symbolic act. We are exercising free will, and our decision matters. A voter weighing policies that affect community safety is participating in Hanhagas HaMishpat. At the same time, we can vote without fear, knowing that no election result or human policy can alter G-d’s true design.
The wrong candidate cannot prevent the ultimate redemption.
Our civic responsibility belongs to the realm of Hanhagas HaMishpat, but the world continues to move forward through Hanhagas HaYichud.
As Election Day approaches, this is the message of Lech Lecha. Your vote matters. Cast it with care and conviction. Then, when the results come in, remember that no election determines the true course of history. That path was set long before the first ballot and will continue long after the last vote is counted.
We are called to be responsible citizens and faithful servants, shaping the world through our choices while trusting in the divine plan that guides all of history.
Rabbi Benny Berlin is spiritual leader of BACH Jewish Center in Long Beach.
Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
