The Electoral College is a Fundamentally Non-Jewish Institution – The Forward

The Talmudic rabbis advocated majority rule, much closer to popular vote than the system we have today. Photo: iStock/Canva/Mira Fox

TO Mira Fox
November 4, 2024

The Electoral College, a Byzantine system that does not always award the presidency to the candidate with the most votes, was designed by the American version of the Talmudic sages, also known as the Founding Fathers.

James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and the rest were concerned that the public was poorly educated and easily influenced, which could lead to bad decisions being made. The Electoral College will serve as a check on the mass mentality, since the voters will be leaders who could theoretically (although this happens very rarely) vote for someone other than their nominated candidate if they think it is a bad idea. .

The real sages of the Talmud took a completely opposite approach. In one of the most famous tales of the Talmud, known as “The Furnace of Akhnai,” the rule of the majority is considered such a high value that even God could not override the will of the people.

In the story, several rabbis debate whether the oven is kosher; they all agreed that this was not the case, with the exception of one dissenting rabbi. He insists that the oven is kosher, and his analysis is so correct that God will prove him right. God changes the course of the river and pulls the tree out of the ground, but this does not impress most. Finally, a voice from heaven says that the lonely rabbi is right. Even this doesn’t change anything; The rabbis answer that the law of the Torah is in the hands of the people, where laws are created by the rule of the majority, and not by those on whose side God is. Apparently this is a good answer because it makes God smile.

Unlike the Founding Fathers, the rabbis are less concerned about the wrongness of the majority; in fact, they reject the idea that some higher authority—whether God or an elector—is capable of overriding the will of the majority. People disagree on a lot of things, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but that’s not the way to guide or manage a community. In the end, the fairest and best way is to serve the interests of the most people.

Twice in the recent past—in 2000, when Al Gore won the popular vote and George W. Bush won the Electoral College, and in 2016, when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote and Donald Trump became president—the system failed to reflect the will of the people. Today, with elections depending almost entirely on swing states, people are sharply critical of the Electoral College, which appears designed to reflect not the will of the citizens but instead a labyrinthine game of strategy.

Perhaps we should follow more ancient wisdom and hold a popular vote; seems easier. But even this is not so simple – there is nothing like that in the Talmud.

The rabbi who rejects God’s authority in “The Furnace of Achnai” quotes a Bible verse to support his point. But this verse, if quoted in full actually instructs people don’t follow the majority when the majority does something evil or lies.

However, both sides of this year’s US elections are claiming that the other side is lying or is evil. So perhaps it is better not to rely on the Talmud after all.