I haven’t slept much in the last month. Neither has anyone on our team at the Teach Coalition. We are busy 24/6 working to get the Jewish community to vote. Why are we so passionate about voting?
Because we can’t look at their faces anymore.
I can’t look at the face of another mother telling me that she and her husband work four jobs to cover tuition and he is on his way to a heart attack.
I can’t meet another grandparent asking me if yeshivas are getting enough security funding to keep their grandkids safe.
I can’t look at the face of another child with special needs knowing we couldn’t get enough funding for potentially life-changing services.
I can’t look at any of their faces knowing that all we had to do to support these faces was take an hour this week to vote!
Not talk about it. Not kvetch about it. Just vote. That’s all.
Because each and every vote strengthens our ability to advocate for millions of dollars of funding benefiting all of our families.
How so?
I hear your “how” questions every single day. How does voting translate to actual dollars for yeshivas? How do our votes support safer schools and streets? How would voting in an election lead to more special ed teachers for frum kids?
State and local politicians decide how much funding communities get for services like busing, security and textbooks. A big factor in who receives funding is voter turnout. Politicians pay careful attention to voter turnout in every election: yes, even national ones.
They don’t know if you voted for Trump or Biden. What they do know is if our community has strength in numbers. The more voters who show up, the more clout we have.
Our advocacy has already brought in hundreds of millions of dollars for our communities and schools. We’ve helped families earn tax credits and scholarships, secured additional nursing and technology support for schools and won free kosher lunches for thousands of Jewish children.
As successful as we’ve been so far, there’s so much more we can do. But we can’t do it alone. Our success depends on building a rock-solid reputation as voters whom politicians cannot ignore. Every single Jewish vote strengthens our impact.
We’re up against a lot this year. What better way to demonstrate our care for each other and our unity as klal Yisrael than to join the effort. Trust me, voting is a lot easier than looking into another tearful face.
We’re in this together. Vote today!
Maury Litwack is the executive director of Teach Coalition, a national nonpublic school advocacy movement and a project of the Orthodox Union. For assistance with the voting process in your state, visit our website at https://teachcoalition.org/vote/. As a nonprofit organization, Teach Coalition conducts all voter activity on a strictly nonpartisan basis, endorsing no candidates or parties.
