One of my favorite stories from the Talmud explores a fantastic imagination of one person’s engagement with God. There we learn:

It was taught: Rebbe Yishmael ben Elisha says: I once entered into the innermost part (of the Sanctuary) to offer incense and saw  A-Katriel Yah, the Lord of Hosts, seated upon a high and exalted throne. God said to me: Yishmael, My child, bless Me!  I replied: May it be Your will that Your mercy may suppress Your anger and Your mercy may prevail over Your other attributes, so that You may deal with Your children according to the attribute of mercy and may, on their behalf, stop short of the limit of strict justice! And God nodded to me with God’s head. And from here we learn that the blessing of an ordinary person must not be considered lightly in your eyes. (Berachot 7a)

On one level this is an amazing story in which God is seeking a blessing from a person. It is powerful to normalize the universal need for affirmation. It is fundamental; we all want to be seen. There is also something interesting here in that his blessing for God is a bit underhanded. We all know God could be harsh and judgmental, but the blessing or wish is that God show up as merciful and hide God’s being strict.

All of this this skips over the context of this story. Who was Rebbe Yishmael? Was he really an “ordinary person”? What was the occasion of his entering the innermost part of the Sanctuary? Rebbe Yishmael was the High Priest. The only time anyone entered the innermost part of the Sanctuary was when the High Priest would go in on Yom Kippur. Tomorrow on Yom Kippur in the Torah portion we read:

Aaron shall then offer his bull of sin offering, to make expiation for himself and his household. He shall slaughter his bull of sin offering, and he shall take a panful of glowing coals scooped from the altar before the Lord, and two handfuls of finely ground aromatic incense, and bring this behind the curtain. He shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord, so that the cloud from the incense screens the cover that is over [the Ark of] the Pact, lest he die. ( Leviticus 16: 11-13)

There is something profound about this being the Day of Repentance. On this day we want to return. We all want to be seen. This is high risk for the High Priest and high stakes for the entire nation. The context of Rebbe Yishmael’s giving God a blessing is that he is the holiest person in the world on the holiest day of the year in the holiest spot in the world. It is also powerful that this blessing is being given in a intimate/private space.

As we are going into Yom Kippur I look ahead to election day November 5, 2024 in a mere 24 days. Like Rebbe Yishmael, on that day we will go into the election booth, a small private space we only enter once a year. There we will cast our ballet and “bless” the candidates we think should be leading us.

Sadly we do not live in a country in which every vote counts due to the electoral college, but that said we should still all vote as if it were so. We should treat Election day with the same gravity of the High Priest on Yom Kippur. It is as if our lives depend on it. It is clear that the good of nation is depending on it. The brilliance of a true democracy is that we treat every single ordinary person’s votes as sacred and we do not consider lightly in our eyes.

Regardless of who you vote for, I do believe that there are some important lessons we all should take from Rebbe Yishmael . We should treat our own vote as sacred. Who each of us votes for is a very private thing. This is choice is happening the innermost sanctum of who we are. And we should center this blessing/vote on a conversation of character. How might kindness out weigh cruelty? And finally we need to realize the difference between Yom Kippur and Election Day. On Yom Kippur we stand before God. God might want a blessing from us and offer us a nod in response. On Election Day we stand before the nation. Our elected officials might get the nod from the majority of the people, but that does not make them gods.

Gmar Chatima Tova– Have a meaningful fast and blessed Election Day.