OU: Jews must vote

The Orthodox Union’s Teach Coalition is working overtime to bring out Jewish voters in the general election that ends on Nov. 5.

“If we want our elected officials to defend Israel, combat antisemitism and recognize our concerns around security and the costs of private education, we must make our voices heard as a community by voting for people who will champion and fight for the issues we care about,” said Teach Coalition Founder and Chief Executive Officer Maury Litwack.

He discounted the notion that a person’s vote “doesn’t matter.”

“They say that they voted once, but didn’t get the outcome they wanted,” Litwack said. “To me, that only underscores our collective responsibility to vote, and to ensure that our friends and family vote too. True, the official of your choice may not win. But if you and 20 of your friends vote, the outcome may be affected.”

Earlier this year, Teach Coalition opened first-ever voter centers in Jewish communities nationwide, including a storefront in Westchester’s Jewish community that brought out the vote in a key primary election (where high Jewish turnout helped oust the district’s vehemently anti-Israel Squad member, Rep. Jamaal Bowman). Offices also opened in the Five Towns (the Long Island Unites Voter Center at 499 Chestnut St., opposite the Cedarhurst LIRR staton), in Philadelphia, Beverly Hills, Boca Raton, and Miami, in addition to several mobile voter centers.

Each center is staffed by three to five Teach Coalition employees supplementd by community volunteers. As a non-partisan organization, volunteers do not recommend candidates but simply to encourage voters to turn up, Teach Coalition reports. 

"I think that especially after October 7, people are looking for ways to help out," Litwack said. "Volunteers work in and out of the voter centers, helping people in person, calling potential voters, and even knocking on their doors. Volunteering for this cause doesn't require a specific skill set or a monetary donation." 

"Every single person has friends and family they can contact. Every single person lives in a community they can mobilize and support," he said.