“Al tif’ros min ha’tzi’bur.” Do not separate yourself from the community. Rabbi Hillel the Elder teaches us this important value in Pirke Avot.

As the primary and election season heats up, I decided to email each of the democratic candidates for president to give them (and their staff) a chance to let me know why I should consider voting for them in my state’s primary. Each candidate received the following short email, “Please tell me about why I should vote for you this primary season. I believe strongly in the importance of voting, and am asking this questions to each democratic candidate for the nomination. I am posting the replies on my blog http://1rabbi.blogspot.com and I look forward to hearing from you.” (One interesting note – I had trouble finding a simple webmaster or info email address on the main websites for Clark and Dean – even on their “contact” pages! (They did have forms to fill in with a question, but that is not what a wanted to do. I had to call the campaigns to get the address – not smart!)

I’ll post replies and my thought process as I decide for whom to vote.

My colleague, Rabbi Charles Sherman of Tulsa, OK, worte a powerful a sermon on voting posted on Interfaith Alliance – go take a look.

UPDATE: Kerry was the first to respond – sent a form email with links.