Moti Rubinstein, a communications strategist running on the Hatzibur Hacharedi (Zach) list, revealed in a public post that he came within hours of withdrawing from the race before polls opened, gripped by fear of curses, excommunication and attacks from within the chareidi world.
Rubinstein described the final days as "an emotional rollercoaster," detailing the dread that crept in as the rhetoric intensified. "We are chareidim," he wrote. "There are times when the tone rises, and you hear threats and warnings, Gehinnom, suffering, kaf hakela, Korach and his assembly. These are not empty words for us, and so even when we are convinced of the rightness of our path, the fear seeps in."
The crisis deepened yesterday morning with the news that Akiva Leibel z"l, the grandson of Rav Dovid Leibel, Rubinstein's rebbi and the man whose blessing and encouragement had brought him onto the list, had been killed in a traffic accident. The timing, on the eve of the election, left Rubinstein shaken, wondering if it was a sign from Heaven, and led him to second-guess the entire campaign.
After davening at the Kosel and a worried phone call from his father, who urged him to "turn around" and return to his old life, Rubinstein went to Rav Leibel's home, hours after the rav had buried his grandson, to lay out his fears.
