Chagai Luber, whose son Yehonatan Luber z"l fell in combat in the Gaza Strip, published a moving post ahead of election day calling on the public to view the day of voting as a national holiday of pride and unity, drawing a clear line between the choice itself and its outcome.
"We are proud of Yehonatan's choice to charge forward, and we grieve the result, and we must not confuse the two," he wrote. "The pain of his death does not diminish the strength of our pride in his choice, and the pride in the choice to fight does not dull the pain of his absence. From that same distinction between choice and outcome, we approach election day with pride and joy."
Luber emphasized the historic significance of Jewish sovereignty and the right to vote: "The results of the election of the people of Israel, whether they go my way or someone else's, will not in any way diminish the great pride that after two thousand years Jews can choose their own leadership. We are no longer humiliated, no longer begging, no longer outcasts, no longer exiles, and we do not lift our eyes to strangers. It is not the gentile lord who will choose to run our lives, but our brother — a Jew, an Israeli, flesh of our flesh."
