[Avodah] Crown Heights Rav's Psak On Voting In Church

[Isaac Balbin]

> On Fri, Nov 06, 2020 at 01:32:58PM +0000, Prof. L. Levine forwarded to
> Areivim from
> <https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/headlines-breaking-stories/1916361>: 
>> Residents of Crown Heights are facing a halachic issue on Tuesday as
>> their voting booth station is in a local church...

>> Rav Yosef Braun, the Rav of Crown Heights, paskened this week that voting
>> in a church is only permissible when the actual voting booth is in a room
>> that does not serve as the prayer room since it is then apparent to all
>> that the purpose of entering the room is not for prayer. Furthermore,
>> it is only permissible if there is no other option.

Indeed. That brought back memories of when I was allocated a lecture
theatre for my lectures at the back of a church. The entrance was
through the front door and via the Church. I advised the University
that I would not lecture there unless there was a back entrance, and
they opened up such an entrance for me. The Church was prominent and
in the Central Business District and I certainly didn’t want to be seen
going through the front door given that most would not be aware that the
Church had a hall at the back which they were renting to the University
for commercial reasons.

_________________________
"The student of Torah is like the amnesia victim who tries to reconstruct
from fragments the beautiful world he once experienced. By learning Torah,
man returns to his own self." - Rav Yosef Dov HaLevi Soloveitchik