Harav Elyashiv: Full Effort Before the Election, No Distraction Afterward
Harav Elyashiv had exerted his full influence before a consequential election. But when his grandson tried to tell him the results before his morning learning, he stopped him: “Not now.”
During one particularly consequential election campaign, Harav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv placed the full weight of his influence behind the effort.
When the polls closed, the entire chareidi public waited tensely for the results. A grandson who was staying with Harav Elyashiv that night heard the news and planned to tell him as soon as he arose for his regular learning before dawn.
The grandson began to speak, but Harav Elyashiv motioned for him to stop.
“Nisht yetzt,” he said. “Not now.”
He began his regular learning exactly as he did every morning. Only after he had completed his learning and davened Shacharis did his grandson tell him the election results.
Harav Yitzchak Zilberstein explained that before the election, there had been something for Harav Elyashiv to do. He therefore did everything that he felt was required of him for the sake of Kavod Shamayim.
But once the election was over, there was no longer anything he could do to affect its outcome. Hearing the news could wait; his established seder could not.
The same matter that had demanded his full involvement while action was still possible no longer claimed a moment of his learning once the matter was out of his hands.