Rav Avigdor Miller on Fighting the Leftists

To fight the leftists and reformers, the very best way is to get married and have a big family.

But in a case where it’ll take a little time before you find the right girl, you can still do something by writing letters.  A letter costs 29 cents.  It’s a pity people don’t do that.

I send letters. Senators, congressmen.  Don’t think they ignore the letters.  If you’re capable, you can write letters to newspapers. And many times they print your letters.

But remember the very best method is to raise a family.  Your children will speak as they walk through the streets—just by being there they’re speaking the truth. I see a boychikel on a bicycle, a yamulkah.  His payos are flying behind his ears and he is speeding down the street.  That’s an advertisement for Hakodosh Boruch Hu.  A pleasure to see him.

Or girls coming out of the Bais Yankev.  A whole group of frum girls dressed with tzniyus.  That’s kodesh kedoshim.  That’s an advertisement for Hashem.

You know, the liberals when they see that they get sick in the stomach. Kein yirbu!  It’s very important for us to increase and multiply.  פרו ורבו ומלאו את הארץ וכבשוה – You should multiply and conquer the whole world by the number of your children.

(October 1992)

It was the late evening after Election Day, sometime in the early 1980’s. And the Rav zatzal had spent the previous four months storming about the importance of voting against the Democrat candidate for Mayor of New York. The Rav was adamant that the frum tzibbur should come out to the polls in large numbers to fight against the immoral and dangerous ideology of the Democratic Party in New York. He spoke about it before shiurim, after shiurim and during shiurim. He urged the mispallelim and shiur attendees to call friends to encourage them to vote and to vote Republican and to go as far as handing out papers, leaflets, to others to make clear the importance of the election for the City on a whole and for the frum community.

Now it was motzei Election Day; the polls had already closed and the final results were coming in. A grandson of the Rav was visiting in the Rav’s apartment upstairs from the shul and he offered to do a favor for the Rav. “Should I go down to the shul and find out from someone there what the results were, if our candidate won?”

The Rav responded. “No, I’m not interested. It’s fine. Whoever wins, wins.”

“But Zeidy,” said the grandson in shock. “What do you mean ‘Whoever wins, wins’? This is all you’ve been talking about for months; about how important it is to vote in order to fight against the rishus, the wickedness, of these politicians! What do you mean you’re not interested?”

“You have to understand,” the Rav explained, “When I fight against the liberals and the enemies of the Torah, I’m doing it because they’re making war against Hashem and part of my avodas Hashem is to fight on His side, to fight for what He wants. What the results will be, that’s out of my hands; I just have to do the most I possibly can to battle for Hashem. Once I do that, I’m not interested in following the results, being nervous about it and wasting time with it. Our job is to serve Hashem and to fight for Torah values as much as possible. The results? What will be, will be. But we can never stop doing our part.”