Talmudic rabbis favored majority rule — much closer to a popular vote than the system we have today. Photo by iStock/Canva/Mira Fox
By Mira Fox
November 4, 2024
The Electoral College, a byzantine system which doesn’t always award the presidency to the candidate who actually got the most votes, was designed by America’s own version of Talmudic sages, also known as the Founding Fathers.
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton and the rest worried that the public was poorly educated and easily swayed, which could lead to bad decisions. The electoral college would serve as a check on the mob mentality of a public, since the electors would be leaders who could theoretically — though it very rarely happens — vote for someone other than the candidate assigned to them if they thought it was a bad idea.
The actual Talmudic sages took the exact opposite approach. In one of the Talmud’s most famous parables, known as “The Oven 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 are debating whether an oven is kosher; they’ve all agreed that it’s not — except for one dissenting rabbi. He insists the oven is kosher, and his analysis is so correct that God will prove him right. God reverses the flow of a river and blows a tree out of the ground, but this doesn’t impress the majority group. Finally, a voice from heaven booms that the lone rabbi is correct. Even this changes nothing; the rabbis reply that the law of the Torah is in the hands of the people, where laws are made by the rule of the majority, not who has God on their side. This is a good answer, apparently, as it causes God to smile.
Unlike the Founding Fathers, the rabbis are less concerned about the majority being wrong; in fact, they reject the idea of some greater authority — whether that’s God or an elector — being able to override the will of the majority. People disagree about lots of things, and there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s no way to guide or rule 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 but George W. Bush won the Electoral College, and 2016, when Hillary Clinton won the popular vote but Donald Trump became president — this system has not reflected the will of the people. Today, with the election depending almost entirely on swing states, people are highly critical of the electoral college, which seems designed to reflect not the will of citizens but instead a labyrinthine strategy game.
Perhaps we should follow a more ancient wisdom, and go with a popular vote; it seems simpler. But even that isn’t so simple — nothing in the Talmud ever is.
The rabbi who rejects God’s authority in “The Oven of Akhnai” quotes a biblical verse to support his case. But that verse, when quoted in full actually instructs people not to follow the majority when the majority is doing something evil or lying.
Both sides of this year’s U.S. election claim the other is lying or evil, though. So perhaps it’s best not to rely on the Talmud, after all.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
