Religious Edict 'Do As You Are Told' Does Not Mandate Voting for Specific Parties, Experts Say

Claims that the biblical command 'do as you are told' obligates voters to support a particular political party are misleading, according to recent religious interpretations. This phrase, originating from the Book of Judges, has been used for years to pressure hundreds of thousands of voters into backing parties they may dislike, but halachic authorities clarify that this command applies exclusively to the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish high court, not to individual rabbis or rabbinical councils.

Maimonides explicitly states in his Mishneh Torah that this commandment was directed solely at the Sanhedrin, the supreme judicial body in Jerusalem, which served as the ultimate source of Torah law and rulings for all Israel. The Torah promises that following the Sanhedrin's decisions is a positive commandment binding on all who believe in Moses and his teachings.

In recent years, some groups have deliberately distorted this halachic principle to justify voting for specific parties, such as United Torah Judaism, by extending the commandment to mean obedience to "our rabbis." This interpretation excludes other rabbis and lacks solid halachic basis. The broad application of "do as you are told" to any rabbinic instruction is tenuous and has become a central tenet in some ultra-Orthodox communities, similar to the expansion of the phrase "new is forbidden by the Torah" beyond its original context.

On election day, voters are encouraged to decide according to their own intellect, conscience, and heart. The commandment "do as you are told" will only apply once the Sanhedrin is reinstated. Until then, the ballot box belongs solely to the individual voter.