Some were shocked – and many weren’t – when Republican Jack Ciattarelli captured over 60% of the Lakewood vote in last Tuesday’s gubernatorial election, despite the Lakewood Vaad having endorsed incumbent Governor Phil Murphy for reelection.
Many are now questioning why so many Lakewood votes went to Ciattarelli when Murphy had the endorsements of many influential and choshuve people. Of course there was a massive, coordinated campaign in Lakewood to get Ciattarelli elected; but even with that campaign, is it not surprising that Murphy didn’t win even a small majority of the vote as he did in his last election?
The answer, to me, is simple, and one that power brokers in Lakewood must understand if they want their endorsements to carry any political clout moving forward.
The Lakewood of 2021 is not the Lakewood that existed in the 70s, 80s, 90s, or even early 2000s. When yungerleit first began settling down in Lakewood, their every move was dictated by the BMG roshei yeshiva. Over time, a Lakewood Vaad was established, in which local askanim – who everyone knew – would make their recommendations for whom to vote and it was backed by the roshei yeshiva. This continued for decades – until Jews from out of town began moving in and many who spent just a couple of years in BMG or grew up in Lakewood but didn’t go to BMG, began populating the town. Once that shift happened, the endorsement of the Vaad stopped mattering as much.
The Vaad, for better or worse, is an extension of BMG. For people who have little or no link to BMG, their endorsement doesn’t matter much. A Lakewood voter who weighed the candidates available to him in the past election could have easily assumed that Jack Ciattarelli was a better option for his needs and interests. What about the Vaad’s endorsement? The voter doesn’t know who the Vaad is and has no idea who they represent. Why should he or she care what they have to say?
If the Vaad does want to have clout moving forward, and if others leaders in the Lakewood and surrounding communities want to have a say in future elections to ensure that the frum community votes as a block, a major change has to be implemented. Specifically, the Vaad has to be comprised of rabbanim from the various subcommunities in Lakewood, Jackson, Toms River, and beyond; it can’t continue to be people who most don’t know. When the Vaad endorses someone in the future, Lakewood voters have to know that the endorsement comes from their rav, their madrich, and other people they look up to, not a vague body of individuals – as much as they might mean well – who they never heard of and have no relationship with.
I asked my children in Lakewood before the past few elections- some of them live here for more than 15 years. “Who is the Vaad?” They don’t know. An anonymous Vaad should have no clout. Please, Vaad members, let us know who you are.
My husband learnt in BMG for over ten years! He is now in business! We pay everything in full every cent of tuition (over 1k a year) and the Vaad recommends a candidate that will give more funding to yeshivas or BMG but not to the working person. And the money never trickles down to us , no free lunches, no reduced tuition only higher and higher taxes and astronomical spending cost! WE ARE CHOKING! so unless the vaad takes the good of EVERYONE into account it will be irrelevant! The little man matters too! We are the ones paying full tuition and donating to the schools dinner campaigns and to BMG but no one looks out for good unless they want our money of course!
Well stated. I have the same feeling.
Rav Ahron Kotler did not allow people to live in Lakewood that did not learn. Maybe they are trying to cater to learning people on purpose.
I think the Vaad is the winner here.
They were the kingmakers who handed Murphy his much needed 6thousand votes.
Lets agree to disagree.
Disagree. Murphy is leading by over 65,000 votes, and that lead will increase by the time the rest of the Election Day votes and mail-in ballots are counted. It’s now obvious that your so-called “much-needed” 7,000-odd votes Murphy received in Lakewood made no difference. Even if every registered voter in Lakewood had voted for Ciattarelli, including the 7,000 or so who voted for Murphy, Murphy would still win.
Per the Halachas of A Vaad AKA Tuvei-Hai’r, must be duly elected by the taxpayers of the Town.
Once that is done, they will represent the all of the people, etc.
Of course every 3-4 years, there should be new elections, as many more tax-payers move into or out of the area
Rabbi Avrohom Birnbaum had an excellent article on this point in the Yated this week, on page 22.
In short: Decades ago, the public was not aware much about politics, so one or two askanim in each community would meet the candidates and recommend someone based on their stances.
Now, two things have changed. 1. Askanim started “making deals” with politicians to “sell” the community’s support, rather than simply make a recommendation. 2. The public has become much more knowledgeable about candidates and their positions.
So, rather than just blindly give an endorsement and lead to people questioning (and disregarding) the askanim and the rabbonim who back them, in today’s day and age, there has to be complete transparency behind every endorsement, and a detailed explanation as to WHY an endorsement was given.
I read Rabbi Birnbaum’s article and I agree that it was excellent.
Sadly, what he leaves out is that there is no way the Vaad will work with transparency, because if they would actually be transparent with their motives instead of attributing them to “Hakoras Hatov”, they would not get a SINGLE VOTE. They are much better off without the transparency and at least getting the 30-40% sheeple vote.
I am also curious if the Vaad ever does anything except put out endorsements for elections? What is the purpose of the Va’ad? and of course, who are they?
They also help kids get into school.
Is there a way we can get some good hard numbers on how many kids the Vaad gets into school each year?
I had two kids (both amazing kids with everything going for them except yichus, and a wealthy influential background). We dealt with the vaad to get help. But it didn’t work and Hashem sent us a yeshua from elsehwere. I know this is one of the jobs of the Vaad. How many kids are they succeeding with. From what I saw, the schools didn’t follow the Vaad at all. So why would we have to follow them to support the schools?
Lakewood
A year ago, 2020, the VAAD doesn’t endorse presidential candidates.
Trumps 30,500+ (82%) Biden 6,400 (17%)
This year, 2021, VAAD endorsed Murphy.
Jack 11,500 (61%) Murphy 7,100 (38%)
You decide if the VAAD endorsement didn’t work.
If the vaad had not endorsed Murphy, we would have ALL voted for Jack.
Will someone out there answer a simple question many are asking. Who exactly is the Vaad?? If no one knows why would anyone follow their endorsement?
The vaad only cares about the big institutions and the elitists. They dont care about the hard workinf middle income person who is struggling and dosnt get a penny from anyone anyhow. And pays insane taxes. Time to care fir rhe small ppl
The very fact that the VAAD did not make any statement post election when things didn’t go their way is an indication of how out of touch they are.
This article misses a few points. The reason why so many people voted for the Republican is not due to one reason. There are a few factors at play and none of them can be ignored.
1) As this letter states, many people are not associated with the VAAD.
2) More than mere non-association, many people feel that the VAAD does not represent them. This applies to many people who have moved in over the last few years as well as old timers, such as those who learned in BMG in the past.
It is commonly felt that the VAAD is focused on BMG. And that is factually correct.
Many people feel that a political entity that affects the whole town (such as overbuilding done unwisely crippling the infrastructure…e.g. Route 9 south and Cedarbridge Ave leading to Main St.) should be focused on the wellbeing of the whole town, not the wellbeing of BMG to the determent of others.
I know for a fact there exists bad feelings toward the VAAD specifically regarding this point.
3) Most Orthodox Jews align themselves with the political right. This should be obvious because democrats tend to be more liberal than their counterparts and their opinions are more at odds with Torah values and traditions.
Democrats are the ones pushing for women’s “rights” to kill, i.e. abortion, to recognize homosexual “marriages” as legal unions, and so forth. Democrats tend to be more critical of Israel and more often side with the Arab states. They are the ones who want to see Iran making nuclear progress claiming that they have no ill intentions.
Many also feel that when it is a question of supporting one candidate for local reasons and supporting the other one for moralistic reasons, it is wrong to vote for the more liberal candidate.
If it happened that the VAAD was supporting a Republican, then the overwhelming majority of the town would vote with them. Those who follow the VAAD would vote republican and those who don’t have reason to follow the VAAD or dislike them, would mostly also vote Republican, not because of the VAAD but because of their political opinions.
I will never follow the VAAD until they answer either yes or no to the following question. Will you tell us to vote for a person who will benefit a מוסד with a million dollars while simultaneously raising our collective tax by 10 million? If no, please explain. If yes, no explanation necessary. I’m not holding my breath….
What “Busy” wrote speaks for the hamon am in Lakewood today. People are choking financial and realizing that the leaders are not looking out for the little man.
Also, how can the Vaad (whomever they are) expect Lakewood frum men and women to vote for someone with anti-Torah values? What message did that send??
There’s gonna be a lot of uphill work to get people to tune into the Vaad again.
(Also, where does Avi Schall from Agudah come in? People are saying he guides the Vaad. Is there any truth to that? If yes it’s a major disappointment as well.)
I think the real issue here was transparency. All the reasons given to vote for Murphy fell very flat and did not ring true. People are smart, they can see when something smells fishy and doesn’t feel right. If you want people to listen give them the real, true reason you want to them to vote for a candidate. It was obvious that Ciaterelli’s policies were way more in line with the Jewish community’s interests, but we were still told to vote for Murphy. If there would have been a clear announcement “we know that it looks like Ciaterelli is the right candidate but here are the reasons why he is not…” then I think it would have been much more effective. There was obviously a lot of under the table things going on and people could see that.
People will listen to vaad when they prove they care abt lakewood and their ideals. We won’t be sold for their money and benefits.
It is because it was based on a lie as it was 4 years ago and also there were other Murphy supporting posters going up all over spewing even worse lies which even if true was an idiotic reason to vote Murphy over Ciattarelli.
I have been living in Lakewood for about 25 years and did not follow the Vaad’s endorsement.Why are we assuming that it’s the New Yorkers who voted Republican? I asked a sheilah; my Rav told me to vote my conscience.For those who lecture on hakoras ha tov – that doesn’t apply to me re: Murphy. My Property Taxes are ridiculous. I just received a letter from Horizon that they are raising my monthly individual plan premium to over $1600/month. I don’t receive entitlements – I am middle class income and report my earnings – no cash under the table. So I voted my conscience. And I feel very good about myself that I did not cave into the ‘pressure’ of an invisible Vaad. Maybe people are just waking up a little. Just saying…
1. I think most of us view the Rabbanim’s endorsement of the Vaad as a ‘Hakaras Hatov’ of the Vaads efforts on behalf of the klal. Many times you will get a different answer when asking a Rav directly.
2. The vaad members by and large run major institutions that benefit the public. You can Google the lakewood vaad to learn about its members.
3. It’s up to them (and the Agudah for that matter) to clue us in as to why we should support certain candidates. It’s not that we don’t want what’s best for us, it’s just that this isn’t the Torah (or democratic) way.
Actually the vaad had a huge influence. What I would tell Murphy is. The general feeling in Lakewood was to vote for republican as they represent the more conservative view that religious ppl value. The vaad felt that Murphy has been an advocate for Lakewood and is a decent man and went against the tide to endorse him. This led to majority of ppl in town not voting. They didn’t want to vote for Murphy and they didn’t want to go against the vaad. Had the vaad endorsed Jack he would have received the full 25k of Lakewood votes and Murphy would be out. The vaad endorsing Murphy ended up being a defensive play that fought back the 25k+ Votes jack would have had and he would have won. The vaad was so influential that they were able to stave off the strongly popular vote for jack and keep most home and get the 6k for Murphy which would have been close to 0.
Obviously the vaad prefers to have full influence and this letter is correct but they still have significant political clout as seen in this election. Remember they rabonim in town are mostly products of BMG and mostly didn’t openly go against the vaad even this time out of respect. If ppl would have their own leaders that they know and interact with part of the vaad they would listen. But would all the Rabonim in Lakewood agree on which candidate to vote for especially for a liberal democratic candidate?
Personally, I hesitantly voted for Murphy with a heavy heart voting for someone that is nice to us in my opinion and is a decent man. I did so because of the vaad and I am not in BMG and have nothing to do with them but I didn’t hear any Rabonim strongly saying to vote for jack and I believe they didn’t do so out of respect for the vaad.
Uh, btw, the VAAD for the elections is NOT the same Vaad that helps get the kids into school.
The latter are absolute Tzaddikim and the unsung heroes of our generTilden.
The former are Feineh Yidden.
How do you know it is not the same people?
If you google Lakewood Vaad, you can find a list of its members. It does seem that they are one and the same.
I am here over 40 years and I used to listen to the VAAD, but, I have been jaded by the way taxes have been going up and developement is out of control and all kinds of other goings on in NJ, so I stopped going with the VAAD’s endorsements years ago and I think for myself. So I voted for Jack Ciatterelli and I didn’t vote for Murphy in the last election either.
I and most people I know will never vote according to what the “VAAD” asks for numerous reasons.
1. People should vote for whom they themselves feel is the better candidate.
2. It is the same “VAAD” who doesn’t let chasidim who believe an eiruv is allowed across the 9 make one and threaten them if they will make one.
3.We the middle class are suffering of higher tuition higher property tax and higher day to day living all because our VAAD have their hands in politicians pockets and are getting money for themselves but ignoring our needs. schools gave out boxes during covid can someone please explain how come we got the same cheap items over and over again when the got millions of dollars to help out parents?
WE ARE SICK OF THIS!!!
If after seeing everything that’s happening to our country now, you can still vote for a Democrat then you need to check yourself out by a doctor!
It’s time for some fresh blood in the township. Enough with the current members who automatically get voted in year after year with no campaigning and never changing. They are simply doing the work of the vaad and its builders. Time for change
This
100% agree
Just curious who the Vaad is these days…..
I googled it and a list came up.
But this list does not answer any questions. two of the members are no longer alive (Rabbi Rozansky and Rabbi Rabinowitz).
Rumor has it that the Rav that is on there is not involved with the endorsements…..(I heard from his son)
There are alot of Baal Habatim that on it…..Um are they Daas Torah….?!
Im left with even more questions now……
Actually, 2-4 years ago one of the weeklies – Shopper or Voice – had a detailed write-up on each member of the vaad, and who they are.
I think one very important thing to remember here, is that you cannot just go bashing the vaad because you do not agree with their endorsement.
If they are the only daas Torah giving public guidance, and you do not feel that that is the right thing for you, then go ask your own shaila, as “Vote My Conscience” did.
You cannot bash daas Torah just because you do not agree with what they say. You have to believe that they are saying absolute emes based on the Torah knowledge that they have.
Just like you cannot ch”v disparage the gadol hador for saying that women should not wear shaitels. That is not how we pasken so we go according to our own rabbanim, and move on.
I really feel that all the voters that voted for Jack had one thing in mind and mostly this in mind when voting this year, and that was Rabbi Eismann. Jack C. promised to seriously look into this and rectify this. ??
what vaad who gets kids into school? exactly who are they??? if you can’ give names maybe it doesnt exist. fake news. I know of a lakewood bmg family that has 4 kids without a school!! at home for over a year. wherre is this vaad??
btw, the political vaad said to vote for corzine the crook. I stopped listening to them along time ago.
Totally not the case I am currently in bmg and the vast majority of us do not follow the vaad
The entire premise behind this article is false, as there were many, many Yeshivaleit who also did not vote for Murphy. The fact of the matter is that since the Vaad endorsed Corzine over Christie they have not been followed by most Frum voters. It is up to them to figure out what they are doing wrong and whether or not they wish to remain relevant going forward. I will say that unfortunately, they were still relevant enough to get enough sheeple to follow them so as to get the vote thrown to Murphy, so at least they can put that feather in their cap.
For all of you who are asking who the Vaad is, I will come forth once and for all and confess. It is I! I am the vaad.
My name is Paul Vaadman. I moved into Lakewood many years ago and came up with this plan to pretend as if there is this group of communal leaders in Lakewood who are recommending who to vote for. But of course, there never really was such a group; it was “L’L ole me” all along. I named this make-believe group “Vaad”, which is the first half of my last name. I then put out statements in the name of this pretend group telling everyone who to vote for, and it worked like a charm – till recently, when a guy by the name of Sam Contrarian moved into Lakewood and decided to ruin my plan. He put out statements telling everyone not to vote for the candidate I was endorsing. He named his movement, “Efsher Punkt Farkert”.
And now you know the rest of the story.
for all the articulated arguments
THE VAAD TURNED OUT RIGHT!!
why not leave politics for those who understand them
They turned out right because Murphy won by the skin of his teeth? Did they turn out right when they endorsed Corzine over Christy? Do they now have Ruach Hakodesh as well?
I am not a Lakewood resident and I have no idea who comprises this Vaad. But if they are an offshoot of BMG I have the following question:
How can a non-profit organization endorse a political candidate.
IRS rules strictly forbid this lest they lose their tax exempt status.
I think we all vote for Republicans and bring down the terrible situation in State of NJ . I don’t care which Governor or President it is please in 2024 vote for Republicans !!!!Let End the Democrats Party once for all !!!
The letter writer missed the boat on this. I have lived in Lakewood a long time. Learned in BMG a long time and voted based on the Vaads recommendations for at least 10 years.
I have also been in Lakewood for long enough to witness the consenquences of the Vaad recommendations. The worst being the insane traffic and skyrocketing property taxes.
I don’t know what the Vaads interests are, but it is clear they do not align with mine or most other residents of Lakewood.
In this election in particular, it was pretty clear that Murphy was the worse candidate for Lakewood. He already has proven he has no interest in addressing the horrible school funding formula. He has also stated that if you are concerned about taxes, NJ is not the state for you, well, I am concerned about taxes, very concerned.
To those who think Murphy is better for those who are on programs, that is a very shortsighted view.
NJ is not the Fed, they can’t print money. All those programs need to be paid for by NJ residents (unlike NY, NJ has a relatively small business tax base.)
It is a fact that the middle and upper class of NJ is shrinking, yet Murphy keeps expanding programs. A shrinking tax base and expanding programs will only end in tragedy for everyone.If not for The Federal Covid Bailout, NJ would likely be near bankruptcy. The fed isn’t going to bailout NJ every year.
NJ has become unaffordable for the middle class. Even if you pay of you’re mortgage, if you retire in 15 years from now, you will likely have to pay $20k annually in property tax to keep your home.
So the Vaad told me to vote for Murphy, at one point in my life, I would have followed their suggestion, at one point in my life I was very naive.
FYI The Vaad who helps children get into schools IS NOT the same as those who try to dictate who people should vote for. As far as I know, the election Vaad serves no other purpose then making an appearance before each election to tell people who to vote for.