Thinking about it briefly, it seems God has given us a do-over. The perfect opportunity for teshuva - get put into the same situation and the second time around act better, more appropriately - don't commit the same sin the second time.
Whatever your sin, if you sinned, might have been the first time around, whether it was talking badly about the other candidate, talking badly about his supporters, talking badly about other parties or their supporters, whether it was physical activities - tearing down signs defacing signs, or whatnot.. .We all have the opportunity to do this again in a better, more civil way. We should all, myself included, look at our behavior and figure out how do do it better this time, how to support our preferred candidate without getting nasty and being mean, without being hateful and spiteful. Support whichever candidate you want, but please let's not go through another mean-spirited campaign again like we had last time..
We have the chance for a do-over. Let's do it over properly. Let's elect a mayor peacefully this time.
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Great idea. I can think of a few things I myself can improve on from last time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the positivism Rafi! Cheshbon nefesh and fixing up our faults is always a good idea - and no better time to do it than in the run-up to a this new election.
ReplyDeleteSo you are doing teshuva and voting for Abutbol this time?
ReplyDeletenice. the ink on the court case is barely dry and you are already calling people sinners just by nature of how they vote (or how you think they vote)..
Deletecute :-)
DeleteMaybe the people of Bet-Shemesh should think how they want to respond to frauds. I mean: if they tell you that your vote has already been cast, what will you do? And if you see it happens to someone else? Anyway, everybody should ask himself a few questions and try to come up with answers.
ReplyDeleteExcept that dead people can vote, but they can't do teshuva.
ReplyDeleteI try to stay out of Beit Shemesh politics, but from my limited vantage-point, it seems that calling for new elections is like calling a 3rd-down pass-interference penalty on a pass that was nowhere near the vicinity of the receiver. It makes the offense happy - they get to do a do-over of the play with a whole new set of downs, but the defense is rightfully mad - a do-over shouldn't even be necessary. It should have been a 3-and-out.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, now that the referees have called it, Rafi is right. Let's all stay away from these penalties and perceived penalties.
i don't understand a word that you said.
Deleteare you talking about abutbul or eli cohen?
Rafi, I'm the anonymous who asked you if you are doing teshuva and voting for Abutbol this time.
ReplyDeleteLighten up. It was a joke.
you are writing as anonymous, and there was no way to know if you were joking or not.
ReplyDeleteDon't only ask us if we sinned. The two prime sinners are Abutbul and Cohen. They are the ones, who can, who must lower the tension in this city. Let us be under no misconceptions. Even in Eli Cohen wins the re-election, and I hope and pray he does, the divisions and tensions in Beit Shemesh will still remain with us. With an approximately 50-50 between each side, the only way to lower tension is for these 2 people and their camp to decide, if they both love Beit Shemesh with all their hearts, and I am sure they do, they must work together in a municipal unity coalition, with or without rotation, but working together. Both camps won't get all they want, they might get half, but it is necessary to save the city. In the 1980s there was a few times national unity governements where the labour and the Likud worked together to save the country. Now is the time for Beit Shemesh. Whoever reads this and is in a position of influence with any of the camps needs to push this option now.
ReplyDeleteI am good with this suggestion, not that I am in any position of inlfuence to get it implemented..
Delete