Here in Israel we’ve just wrapped up the voting across the country for various local positions.

I’m not going to go into the politics of the elections – that’s not relevant to most of you. But what is of interest is to see an inspiring model of a person who actualized a vision that seemed like a fantasy, something that could never happen.

Dr. Aliza Bloch wanted to become the mayor of Beit Shemesh and change how things were being run.

When she announced her candidacy five months ago, the announcement was met with great skepticism and disinterest. No one wanted to challenge the incumbent since after the last election, it was accepted as fact that a non-charedi candidate couldn’t win. By sheer number of votes, the charedi voters of the city would determine the outcome and obviously they would vote.

Aliza Bloch wasn’t charedi. Not only that, she was a woman – and there’s never been a female mayor of this city in all of its decades. She didn’t have a chance. And that was why there was so much skepticism and apathy regarding her candidacy.

But Dr. Bloch believed differently. She spent hours almost every day for five months knocking door to door, meeting people one at a time, meeting with small groups in neighborhood after neighborhood, listening to concerns, formulating a plan and sharing her vision.

Not only that, she began the work of planning for the actions she would take once she was elected, reaching out to businesses, planning initiatives to bring income into the city – preparing to implement her vision when she was elected.

Laughable, isn’t it? To prepare for the impossible that everyone else can clearly see can’t happen?

Except that as people got to know her, they began to believe her vision. Her personal vision became a vision shared by thousands of people.

Two days ago, our city held elections. It was a race that was neck and neck, and when all the votes were counted that evening, the votes were in: the incumbent mayor won by 101 votes (out of over 40,000).

So it was over. She lost. So much for her vision.

Except then  it was announced that the votes of several groups hadn’t yet been counted – and when those were all accounted for a day and a half later, Aliza Bloch was 533 votes ahead.

At 3 am this morning it was finally official – Dr. Aliza Bloch was announced as the new mayor of Beit Shemesh.

For me, watching this campaign has been a living example of what it looks like have a mental picture of what you want to achieve, and then consistently work towards that goal, stick toward your goal and never stop believing in your vision.

Avivah