Why I Vote: A RAC Intern’s Reflection on Civic Engagement

Ask anyone about their childhood memories and they will most likely reference a happy moment. Most people do not like to recall the sad moments that take place early in life, but I like to reflect on one particular moment that encompassed both joy and sadness, impacting my perspective on life forever. I remember walking into Auschwitz and seeing the old railroad tracks into the concentration camp. Briefly, I was able to envision what it must have looked like when the camp was filled with prisoners, the guards were standing with rifles, and there was horror all around. I walked slowly through the camp until we got to one of the bunks. This is where my grandmother showed me where she slept for eighteen months as a prisoner.  During this trip, I traveled with my four cousins, two siblings, parents, aunts and uncles and my grandmother – my amazing grandmother, Nannie. Nannie was 83 years old and I’ll never forget when she said that taking this trip with her seven grandchildren was the greatest revenge on the Nazis she could have ever imagined. Ever since taking this trip, I have been very aware of injustice and discrimination – not just against the Jewish people, but against any group of people. My trip to Auschwitz and the stories my grandmother has told me about her childhood remind me that I should never take my freedoms for granted. That’s why civic engagement is so important to me as a Reform Jew.

I have voted in every election since I turned 18, both when I was living at home in Arlington, Virginia and now that I’m away at college in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. As many Americans know, both Virginia and Pennsylvania have been important swing states, so I felt as though my vote really did count as soon as I became old enough to cast my ballot. While I have always gone to the polls on election day, before interning at the RAC, I didn’t understand just how important civic engagement is for our country. Civic engagement should be viewed as a necessity, but I know many of my peers don’t always think this way. For other young people my age, I think that they may view voting as a task or obligation rather than a privilege.  I have decided to get involved in the RAC’s Civic Engagement Campaign to help my peers understand that each vote really does matter.

As Rabbi Yitzhak taught, “A ruler is not to be appointed unless the community is first consulted” (Talmud, B’rachot 55a). We are a government decided by the people. Interning at the RAC has reminded me that our leaders today are a direct result of the votes that were cast on the most recent election day. Due to my internship at the RAC this summer, my personal civic engagement will forever be changed. Voting allows people to choose the right leaders of this country and allows for democratically elected leaders. Civic engagement can mean many things to different people. To me, civic engagement means doing as much as you can to make sure that people who are most disadvantaged will be cared for. So I will always vote in every election, and I encourage all young college students my age to do the same. 

Josef Klausner is from Washington, D.C. and is a rising senior at Ursinus College, where he is majoring in Media and Communication Studies. Josef spent the summer 2018 interning at the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.