They said it would never happen. They said it couldn’t be done. But Jews — who have cleaved to the Democratic Party with a ferocity unknown to man or Icelandic volcano since the signing of the Magna Carta or the inauguration of FDR, whichever came first — are slowly (inexorably?) beginning to drift away from Barack Obama.
According to a poll published this week by McClaughlin & Associates, 46 percent of Jewish voters would prefer someone else than Obama in the presidency, compared to 42 percent who would re-elect him. That’s only a meagre four percent separation, but that number is stunning considering Obama got 78 percent of the Jewish vote in November. That’s a difference of 32 percent between now and then. Has there been another voting block with that large a swing? There may have been, but I doubt it. Something is clearly going on here.
Now I understand these views are fluid and could switch back again. Habits are hard to change, longterm habits even more so. I’m sure the Democratic Party is banking on that. All loyal subjects come back in the end. But considering the Obama Administration continues to pressure Israel in such a mindless, almost primitive, manner, it’s not entirely unlikely that this swing will continue, even expand. As I wrote the other day, Obama’s attitude toward Israel and its leadership is excessively personal. Many Jews can see that. How could they not?
And it’s not just the President.
These Jews are merely responding to a poll. Who knows what value that might translate into come voting day. My guess is that when that Jew who polled in the 46 pct, goes into the voting booth and faced with a progressive and a conservative will vote for the progressive, understanding that a vote otherwise would be putting a knife into their mothers heart, and that of FDR’s.
The polling of my family does not give me any encouragement when it comes to the ballot box.
Here’s the thing, promoguy, and it’s simple. It’s people like you who have to change their minds. Go for it.
And if I can offer some concrete ideas about how:
Put together a binder of salient articles from PJM, American Thinker, Phyllis Chesler, Pam Geller, Jennifer Rubin, etc. Pick and choose. Don’t include so many that it’s overwhelming. And make sure the pieces you select have references because folks who disagree are likely to write off your evidence as just emotional if they don’t see something to back it up.
Type out a reading list. Why are Jews Liberal? should be on it, though that book is so dense, it may not be the best one to start out with.
Type a list of links to web sites including youtubes (like conversations with David Horowitz).
Invite them to read one article every day for a month. If they balk, say that they’ve been immersed in the other side their entire life. What’s a month? And, it’s not as if by reading another perspective, someone can force them to change their mind or take away their free will. What’s to lose?
See if you can find even one point of common ground (like the importance that the state of Israel exist). Use that as a building block.
Offer up a shocking soundbite that may be an emotional jolt. Then delve into it further.
Don’t lecture, ask questions (she said in a lecturing manner!). Find opportune moments to interject a relevant question. If a Jewish person you’re with commens about a black child who expresses self-hatred because theyseem to have internalized racism, ask your friend/family member if they think they/you have internalized self-hatred as Jews. If the person expresses some sympathy for the perceived plight of Muslims, ask them about pro-Israel speakers are now routinely banned from speaking at college campuses, etc. If they express horror and compassion about something violent in the news, ask them to imagine what it’s like to have rockets rain down on you day after day and open up a conversation about what Israeli life is like in many parts of Israel.
It can also be interesting to engage someone in a discussion about child development and the evolution of our views on things…how we change from when we’re 5 to when we’re 15 to when we’re 20, etc. Ponder why some views seem to get stuck in time and then not continue to evolve?
Just a few ideas. I’m sure you have a slew of your own. It’s exhausting, but it’s those of us who are passionate and informed who need to keep our numbers growing.
Roger,
I have a very good friend who voted blindly for Obama…we’re both jews. Over the past year, as a small business man who is going to be hit very hard by the now guaranteed tax increases, he has radically changed his views of both Obama and the Democratic Party. He now read my blog almost daily as well as yours and Instapundit’s.
I suspect that this sort of movement is happening all over my city (Pikesville, MD–suburb of Baltimore, and home of 50k or so Jews)…because I speak to people every day on the Metro on my way into the City…and many have become deeply disenchanted with the direction this government has taken.
Please join the American Tea Party. It is for “every” American who values freedom, small central government and lower taxes. Welcome aboard! Now lets get this country straightened out!
http://www.TeaPartyExpress.com
http://www.TeaPartyRevolution.com
My sympathies. Unfortunately, before you voted, both Barack and his wife were open about their attitudes to topics that would become part of his policies once elected. Including the “situation ” in the Middle East. and indirectly his attitude toward Israel and Jews in general. BUT he needed what they could / would and did give him: Media support and cheering, money and their votes. Given that on the whole Jews are among the best educated population in the nation, this emotional vote is surprising. But the Jews in Germany did not seem to understand their peril at the election of Adolph Hitler. It appears that voting ought to be something more than a sympathy or a sentimental vote for a pretty face, a resonant voice, a “brother” / another oppressed ethnic.or simply a vote against the vulgar uneducated, in the US, called “conservative”.
Roger, I’m not sure why you think that Bill Clinton was relatively good for the Jews (as opposed to Hillary). American foreign policy has been consistently “pragmatic” when it comes to Israel. See here: http://clarespark.com/2009/09/11/oil-politics-and-obamas-view-of-israeli-history/. The U.S. cares deeply about its own interests, which were ever perceived as threatened by a genuine U.S.-Israel alliance. Also, wealthier assimilated Jews are sensitive to the charge of dual loyalty, hence “J Street.” One of their fantasies is that there was no antisemitism in the progressive movement. If some Jews suddenly abandon their parents’ political preferences, it may be because of other policies than the Obama administration’s horrid treatment of Israel. Of course I hope you are correct in your assessment.
You got that right! Over the years I’ve become convinced that Jews would vote for Adolph Hitler if he ran as a democrat.
I think he did….as leader of the National SOCIALIST German WORKERS Party.
Socialism & Labor….can’t get much more Democrat than that!
AD, “socialism” in the title of the Nazi party did not mean socialism in the way that you think. It had to do with a racial bond that transcended class divisions–class divisions that were created by the Jews in the Nazi fantasy land. I did a four part series in February that lays out how leading progressives planned their civilian morale protocols: start here: http://clarespark.com/2010/02/14/nazi-sykewar-american-style-part-one/. Read all four parts and you will see how Nazis understood the word “socialism.” It is also of interest in that leading U.S. social psychologists wanted to appropriate Nazi methods in mind management, for fear of growing literacy and self-confidence in ordinary people, who were talking back to the U.S. (not the Nazi) establishment.
I did an index to the four-part series mentioned above: http://clarespark.com/2010/04/18/links-to-nazi-sykewar-american-style/. There is another set of links that may interest Pajamas readers: http://clarespark.com/2010/04/18/links-to-hitler-and-the-jewish-mind/. And I thank Roger’s readers for their interest in my research.
Nonsense, Clare Spark! AD is right. “Socialism” in the title of the Nazi Party did mean exactly that: Socialism.
Fascism and naziism were forms of socialism – as opposed to freedom and individual liberties. We’re heading today to a similar form of corporate socialism, there’s no doubt about that.
And, as previous socialisms did not deliver, this one won’t either. When that time will come, they will need a scapegoat.
Guess who will that be.
It happened in Soviet Russia, it certainly happened in Nazi Germany. Why not here?
We feel the same way!!
What ever happened to common sense???
Obama has no respect for Jews/Israel. Time for Jews to wake up and realize this ain’t their mama’s America anymore and it’s time to fight back.
It’s exciting isn’t it. What to do?
They also ought to be shown the number of Democrats who are anti-Israel as opposed to Republicans who are pro-Israel in Congress — now — and that there have been major changes on that issue.
Also — they need to have some deceptive impressions cleared up — like who is really behind J-Street, and what Rahm Emmanuel means when he says Israel needs “tough love.”
And how about getting each one a copy of the Constitution? And Henry Hazlett’s “Economics in One Lesson?” — Or would that backfire?
If there were only a way to Convert them permanently — to Conservatism or Libertarianism, I mean.
My 88 y.o. jewish mother was reading a book about how smart Biden is. She ‘knew’ Biden is amazing.
My 88 y.o. jewish mother was reading a book about how smart Biden is. She ‘knew’ Biden is amazing.
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Thank you, Roger and Carol and all who have concrete ideas about how to change the Jewish mind.
I am a Christian, and as such love Israel and her people, the Jews. Personally, having visited Israel, I fell in love with the people and their great spirit and humor. How can we abandon them? How can Jews vote with the liberal ticket? It is beyond my comprehension.
Therefore, I must obtain Roger’s book. This matters immensely to me, and I am so ashamed of this administration’s abandonment of Israel. We must not be silent, we must not let it stand.
Oh! Roger, I forgot to ask you to please post your Grandma’s borscht recipe online, I’d love to make some. You and Lionel are invited to San Diego, once I make a pot, so you can let me know if I’ve prepared it properly!
I take it from your comment above that you’ve never had borscht. If you had, I don’t think you would be so excited!!! I’m telling you, forget the borscht and go with babka. Now THAT is guaranteed delicious!
Meanwhile, thanks for your support and your kind words.
But the dye has been cast. We have seen it. Some of it is indelible.
–
I thought the phrase was “The die have been cast”. As in plural for dice, from various games of chance.
Pun intended – note the word indelible in the next sentence.
Actually, I think the phrase “the die is cast” refers to the making of a mold, sometimes known as a “die.” Once made, it can’t be unmade without breaking it and starting over again.
“Alea iacta est”, Julius Caesar, from Suetonius. “The die (singular, “dice” is plural) is cast”, or “the game is begun.”
1) ‘die’ is the singular; ‘dice’ is the plural.
2) ‘The die is cast’ (in the original Latin, ‘alea iacta
est’) was a statement made by Julius Caesar when he took
his army out of his province by crossing the Rubicon River,
thus effectively declaring war on the Roman Republic, and
subsequently leading to the First Triumvirate.
Best regards,
Thank you. I was wondering about “dye” and found this clarifying thread of conversation very helpful. Any thread that premises remarks upon Latin quotes is worthy of props.
“The die have been cast” is the correct phrase.
I don’t think it means much. The “somebody else” is no doubt, in their minds, some other Democrat. Maybe a Democrat who isn’t as overtly hostile to Israel, if one in a leadership poistion still exists. I think the significance, given that Obama continues to act like the Israel opponent he is, is that Jewish money will dry up for his campaign (to some extent,) and that many Jews may stay home from the polls in 2012. They won’t vote for a Republican. Obama will not change the ossified culture of “progressivism,” nor the tenacious hold it has on American Jewry.
Well, Victor, as I’m sure you know, that is the conventional wisdom. I like to think that committed people can change it. Otherwise I wouldn’t be doing this.
I know, and your hopeful note is appreciated. Perhaps if anything can start even the questionning of the progressive orthodoxy among American Jews, or for them to begin to see what has become of the party that once represented liberal values, it will be Obama’s overt hostility to Israel. It’s just that the complex of factors that have led American Jews to be such hardheaded Democrats, discussed much here and elsewhere, is a little different than the set of factors for many non-Jewish Dems. I think they may be harder to shake off. But I hope you’re right.
I think I understand the desire in people to do good in the world. The question you should ask of yourself and others is this: What exactly is it in progressive orthodoxy that is progressive?
Nothing. “Progressives” favor nearly century-old orthodox ideas that at this point are mainly reactionary. But really what they want is to roll back the Western project of individual freedom, achievement and responsibility and replace with a much older model of statism and a ruling elite. That’s why I call them Regressives.
Thank you, Roger.
I tend to agree with Victor.
My personal experience was formed as a constituent of Cynthia McKinney. She was always known to be vaguely anti-semitic even though she represented a district with a sizeable jewish population. In 1996, running against John Mitnick, things turned ugly. Billy McKinney, Cynthia’s father and a major political force in the area, publicly called Mitnick (a liberal, pro-choice republican) a “racist Jew”. Things quickly escalated.
So how did the jewish voters vote? Well, for the most part, they didn’t– they stayed home. Ultimately, “R” was the scarlet letter, no matter how moderate the guy wearing it was.
After that election, jews gradually went back to supporting her, though she became increasingly outspoken about her feelings about them. The GOP didn’t mount a serious challenge to her again; it was clear that if Mitnick couldn’t win in that district and with the rhetoric she was pumping out, then nobody could.
That’s why, when following 9/11 she was finally kicked out, it was a liberal democrat and the party aparatus that did it. It’s also why, two years later, McKinney was back. Some very viable candidates ran, but it was a crowded field, and several (including a jewish leader essentially running a vanity campaign) had no chance of winning but spent a lot of time attacking everyone EXCEPT McKinney. Only when she abandoned The Party was it safe to condemn her.
So Roger, much as I love everything you’re doing, you need to understand the mentality we’re up against or you’ll be disappointed. I suspect that even if Iran gets a bomb and uses it on Tel Aviv, and even if Obama abandons Israel utterly, and even if there’s a bloodbath that destroys Israel, that you’d see (at least among baby boom and older jews) the same dogmatic loyalty to the Democratic Party. And some twisted rationale to blame the whole thing on Karl Rove.
Where what you’re doing has real value is in the NEXT generation. Sarah Silverman’s delusions notwithstanding, younger Jews are far more open-minded about politics and policy. And that’s a realignment that’s both feasible and something that effort now will help achieve.
Wells — what you just wrote — it’s very effective. It could be if you printed it out and passed it around — or emailed it around — it could be an eye opener.
Give it a try,
Optimist Aqua
responding to wells, you are wrong. It is the younger assimilated Jews who have no sense of Israel’s history who will continue to vote for Democrats. I am 57, and, for the first time in my life, I voted Republican because I saw what Obama-bots really thought Israel. However, if the GOP really wants more like me, you got to stop believing Club for Growth. BTW, I knew my vote for McCain would not change the outcome in New York, but McCain had a chance. In my CD, my congressman got the message with the split of those of us who voted for him and McCain (who actually won Rockland and Nassau Counties because of the Jewish vote).
Half the voters in NYC sat home (hundreds of thousands of Jews, Irish, Chinese, and Hispanics sat home). being a registered Democrat in NYC does not mean you are a liberal. It just means you want a choice in the primary. McCain could have won New York, if he had campaigned, had not backtracked on his vote against the Bush/Cheney tax cuts, and without Palin (who I like, but she did not help).
The GOP has to understand that most of us are at heart independents. The only thing that will send the message to Obama is for supporters for Israel to stop giving money to Obama’s Democratic Party. The GOP is not an automatic default.
Interesting comment. I agree with a lot of it, and that is why I think the GOP has a realy challenge on their hands. Folks who are at the most conservative end of the political spectrum want to pull the party in that direction. Meanwhile, there’s a huge swath of voters who are, as you say, independents at heart. They’re not looking for something too extreme in either direction. How the GOP, or any political movement, can capture both camps is beyond me. And I have the feeling they will need both camps in order to have the numbers. But, at this point, so many Americans are angry they are likely willing to vote for candidates out of anger, canadidates they might not otherwise have voted for.
“…the Republicans had a point when it came to fiscal responsibility…”
That’s the point of the Tea Parties: there exists a competing set of solid principles in the political philosophy of small-”r” republicanism. They’ve been abandoned and mutated over time, but they’re ideas that have timeless appeal and the power to improve men’s lives. They’ve given us prosperity and unprecedented personal freedom for more than 250 years. The beauty and universlaity of these ideas–rather than the mere mechanics of party affiliation–should form the basis of our collective struggle against statist totalitarianism.
You’re right Roger. The time is now! Strike while the iron is hot!
(I hope there won’t now be 8 comments discussing this phrase.)
We cannot admit defeat before the battle begins, just because the odds seem insurmountable.
This nation’s founding was against the odds.
I offer myself as Exhibit A! And there are many others out there like me. Change really can happen. We all have to do our part to nurture it in others.
Bless you. It is a terrible frustration for Republicans who
adore Israel and with it that which is Jewish. All we
could look forward to is the yearly Commentary piece
on “Why do Jews Always vote For the Dems.
There are more out there like me than you might imagine. But, still, not enough. You may find this heartening:
Blog of a former liberal Jew who is now conservative:
http://neoneocon.com/
Blog of a former liberal Jew who is now conservative (at least I think she’s Jewish):
http://www.bookwormroom.com/
And check out “Robin of Berkeley’s” piece over at American Thinker. She’s another formerly liberal Jew who is now very conservative.
And we’re all working like mad in our own ways to get others on board while there’s still a little window of time (I hope).
Nobody but Barry d’zero could split the Jews from the party of FDR (who, btw, wasn’t exactly a great friend of Jews)……
Atta boy, Barry!
We as Jews are being targeted by this administration. See what the justice dept recommendation of life imprisonment in the Rubashkin case.
And our great friend Bush when it came to Pollard.
f47
Spies are spies. There is also a difference between Zionists and Jews. When Israel spies on the US and it does they know the consequences and accept the risk. I do like Jews (at least the less liberal Jews). I respect Israel and think that Israel is deserving of US support, but I don’t think they should get a free pass to spy. My view is that all spies that are US citizens if convicted should be executed. Jewish, Chinese, Canadian or Irish descent, if they spy execute them.
Jews in general should get over FDR, do charity on a personal basis not through the state by way of taxation, and show a little more interest in self-preservation. Israel has a good mindset, unfortunately American Jews rely to much on the Liberals’ ability to do good and protect them.
The issue is not guilt or innocence – they were both guilty. I’m talking about the excessive punishment.
And targeted for excessive punishment becsuse of their faith.
How do you excessively punish espionage? It’s a capital crime- anything short of life in prison is mercy, and we’re well within our rights to execute spies.
If you believe that Pollard gave info that wasn’t supposed to be shared with Israel, per agreements, then the death penalty should have been requested.
How did Pollard hurt the USA?
I agree life in prison for employing illegals is harsh, but for spying, life in prison is a gift. Again we have had ethnic Chinese, Jewish and Russian and Muslims spies. When we let them live we are showing weakness and inviting more attempts to steal OUR property. Aside from spying the Chinese have stole billions of dollars wort of software and other property belonging to Americans. Clinton, Bush and now Obama have done nothing to punish the Chinese. I guess you can’t piss off the land lord.
It is also unbelievable that there are mass murderers that have been in Gitmo for 8 or more years with no trial. The death penalty should be an option in all of these cases, Bush failed the American people by not finishing their trials while he was in office and Obama seems to want to do group hug with them.
Forgotten Man
Spying by allied nations is handled differently than for enemy or adversary nations. As far as I’ve heard, most of our allies do some spying on us, and vice versa.
The penalties have been more like 8, 10 or in extreme cases 15 years. It’s never been life, except for Pollard.
Leaving spies alive makes them useful as bargaining chips. Let them ransom their spies on our terms.
IIRC, the relatively harsh sentence for Pollard was based on two factors:
1 – lack of cooperation
2 – the fact that he passed information that he had no access to
The Rubashkin case has nothing to do with espionage.
The similarity of the cases involve religious Jews – not JINOs.
Ans the fear of the majority of Jews to say anything – lest our patriotism be challenged.
see – THE PROSECUTORS RECOMMEND LIFE IN PRISON FOR SHOLOM RUBASHKIN FOR EMPLOYING ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
http://atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com/atlas_shrugs/2010/04/the-prosecutors-recommend-life-in-prison-for-sholom-rubashkin-for-employing-illegal-immigrants.html
having read the particulars of this prosecution, as you recommended, it is clearly a bizarre case. a life sentance for hiring illegal workers? who is kidding whom. DOJ is a cesspool of anti-semitism and since the fish always stinks from the head, the rotten head of obama and his wright-farrakhan pals is where the stink is coming from, as usual.
I Googled “the dye has been cast”. Here’s what I got:
“The original meaning of this phrase nothing to do with dice. It refers to the time when Julius Caesar took his army into Rome. Once he crossed the Rubicon with his forces there was no turning back as it was forbidden to enter Rome with one’s Legion and he was now classed as an invader under Roman Law. Caesar said, ‘Jacta Alea Est’, literally meaning, ‘Let the dye be cast’. The phrase refers adding dye or ink to water. Once mixed you cannot get it back out.
My husband thought the saying had to do with molds for casting iron! Actually, all three possibilities make perfect sense.
And, Roger, as both a non Jew, who supports Israel altogether, and a non American–I’m Canadian–who altogether does not support Obama, I hope the change you posit is really happening!
Check what you’re googling. alea is a die, a dice game.
‘Interesting: Google is not always accurate, for sure. Thanks for the heads up.
However, as I noted, another really interesting fact is that all three “interpretations” of the idiom appear to say the same thing. That doesn’t happen very often.
Wouldn’t a good kugel be more celebratory than borscht? Just askin’.
And I’m kinda with promoguy. I’ve talked to family members till I’m blue in the face and it’s like talking to my teenaged son…maybe a little worse as they’re adults, not kids, and “should” have critical thinking skills. Prying them off the liberal/progressive bandwagon is almost impossible.
Ain’t that the truth. Last January at my cousins house after his mother’s funeral I was asked by the cousin, hey, level with me you didn’t vote for him cuz he’s black. When you bring up the name Dennis Prager who happens to be a religious Jew and conservative, you get from my sister, he is so arrogant.
Someone above mentioned sending them information every day. They won’t read it. The truth be known is that sometimes I sit here and think, know what….maybe they deserve what they get. But that being said, for the first time in my 66 years, I truly hate what I see happening to this country. Worries me more than business being slow or housing values.
I am actually involved in many community events here in the San Fernando Valley where I have to see the likes of a Brad Sherman, Lloyd Levine, Mike Fuhr and other Jewish politicos. It takes real self control to keep from being a real prick in their face.
Why won’t they read something you give them? What are they afraid of?
I’ve encountered this same resistance until finally I ask the person outright what they are afraid of? What is it they feel they have to lose by reading a couple of articles? What is the great risk or sacrifice? (Part of me is suspicious they fear they will read what they know to be true and it will make it a bit harder for them to live in a complete fantasty world once confronted with words on the page that confirm what they choose every day to look away from.) What about this: Each person suggests an article for the other to read, then you can discuss your ideas and perceptions about what you read?
Give them a toy boxcar with Obamas logo on the side of it. Maybe that will get their attention.
I’m using your idea!
This poll should scare the hell out of the leaders of Democratic Party. Jews may only represent a mere fraction of the overall population—but their intellectual and financial contributions are crucial. Even a small drop of support could prove disastrous.
Clearly these jews are racists.
(yes, I am saying this ironically.)
I don’t know, here’s my thing. Why should I even care if jews side with obama or not? I do not on a daily basis give a rat’s behind what any religious group thinks, not even my own. The only interest I guess is that yes, I expect the average jew to be more likely to support isreal than the average anything else, so as Obama treats isreal shabbily, i am intellectually curious to see if that has an effect on his Jewish supporters.
And bear in mind, when i say jews are more likely to support isreal, i don’t mean that as an ugly accusation of dual loyalty. I think its more like this. Isreal has been singled out and maligned in a way that is objectively unfair. they judge isreal by standards none of its neighbors are expected to adhere to, even as they face terrorism that, adjusted for population, is equivalent to 17 attacks on the scale of September 11. Let me tell you, at two september 11s, we would reduce whatever country it came from to glass. The fact the isrealis didn’t start nuking all of their neighbors and call it a day is a sign of their patience.
The reason why I think American jews are more likely to support isreal, is because it is the right thing to do, and as jews it is very obvious to them. i mean think of it this way. I have always believed that FDR was doing his best to provoke Hitler into an attack. If you look at Lend Lease and all of that, you cannot help but conclude that FDR wanted a war with Germany, and was just hoping and praying that hitler would give him the excuse to do it. And given we are talking about Hitler, I don’t even think that is a bad thing. The History of Hitler’s 3rd Riech is the most eloquent argument in human history that there is such a thing as a necessary war and that complete pacifists are fools.
But that begs the question: why did FDR want war? Sure its the right thing, but there were millions of americans who had the same info FDR had and still opposed war. So what made him special? And the answer, I think is remarkably simple. Before Hitler said “kill all jews” he said, “kill all cripples.” Its a little easier to recognize evil when you can identify with the victim of that evil. FDR recognized Hitler was evil because when Hitler murdered the handicapped in the infamous t-4 program, FDR saw himself in those victims. Its the same way with American jews and Isrealis. They are able to identify with the Isrealis, so they understand the issues better. So its not sinister on the part of jews, so much as sinister on our part that us non-jews so frequently don’t get it.
Btw, that is why i feel very strongly that the FDR memorial should actually place FDR in an obvious wheelchair. This memorial is not about capturing his image, but capturing his significance. He recognized the evil, I believe, in part because of his handicaps. and wholly apart from that, he is a positive example, inspiring handicapped people all over. I remember as a child being told that Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin and therefore anyone can grow up to be president. You could say the same thing with FDR: he was handicapped, therefore anyone can grow up to be president.
And in the case of Barrack Obama, you can say, one time in our history we judged by the color of a man’s skin rather than the content of his character. The election of Barrack Obama proves that neither issue is relevant anymore.
(and yeah, that is a total rip off of an iowahawk joke)
If we’re serving tea, then it’s definitely rugglach!
All of this talk of delicious food is making my tummy grumble! I wan’t Roger’s grandmother’s borscht too! I’ve never eaten borscht, kugel, rugelach etc. and I’d love to impress my Jewish neighbor and try my hand at one of those (if I can find a reliably authentic recipe).
I vote for babka!
If you want to impress them, stay away from the Ashkenazi food. (Sorry Roger! Sorry Bubbe!) If you want to wow them, I would suggest “Aromas of Aleppo” by Poopa Dweck or Janna Gur’s “The Book of New Isreali Food.” “Aromas” is a wonderful book based on the cuisine of the Jewish community of Aleppo Syria. Aleppo once had a large community of Jews who were all ethnically cleansed well before the Balfour declaration. (I guess it isn’t the occupation after all.) Even if you don’t like to cook, it is a wonderful book full of photos from the formerly large Jewish community. Many of the foods are like typical Sephardic fare, but others are quite unique. There are some excellent recipes for meat or cheese pastries that made my friends devour whenever we have guests. The highlights are Shabbat chicken with potatoes and the Kannafe.
The second book is a recent addition, but the recipes so far have been spot-on. Since Israel is a country with Arab citizens, they also listed several famous Arab dishes that most Israelis enjoy as well as a recipe guide for both jewish and Muslim holidays. It is also quite beautiful and full of recipes and variations that I have never encountered. Last night for Shabbat, I made Harira, a Moroccan Jewish soup that my guests, including a Turkish muslim, devoured. There is also an excellent recipe for felafel and hummous, which are Israeli staples, as well as a few rarer dishes I had never seen. One is called “Mina del Pessach” which absolutely blew me away. (It is like a Bureka, but instead of pastry, it is baked inside of Matzot in order to be kosher for Passover.)
Both cookbooks have recipes for what is known in Persian as “Adas Pollo”, though both authors use different Arab names. It is a mixture of rice, lentils, caramelized onions, and nuts. Everyone likes this. (I learnt it from my wife’s Persian family members.) Trust me. Your neighbours will love it.
Carol, I’ve never had or made babka either for that matter (sounds so good)!
Jacob! You are a sweetheart and thank you for the wonderful book suggestions. I love to cook and I’ve learned to cook/bake quite a few ethnic recipes from the world over but Jewish cuisine is one I have yet to try and I’m really excited to learn at least a few successful recipes to add to my repertoire. Cooking is one of those cathartic, homey things that is creative and fun and makes me feel good to feed people I love (I bake bread and share with my neighbors if I make an especially big batch).
Food, cooking, recipes and food rituals have such fascinating history to me. My husband comes from an Italian family and I mastered (and even improved on *shhh*) many of the recipes they passed down and that I in turn have passed down to my daughter. I’m still trying to encourage my daughter to cook but she doesn’t seem to have quite the same passion for it as I do.
Delia – You must try babka (cinnamon or chocolate). It is so delicious! I used to think of it as a Russian Jewish sweet, but only recently learned it’s an Eastern European Easter treat, as well.
I agree, Delia. I love to cook, and I especially love having guests over. Unfortunately, no one in my family enjoys it as much as I do. You can sometimes find video tutorials on youtube for some classic Jewish dishes. It might be worth looking over there as well.
Happy Cooking!
DELLA:
BORSHT
TAKE SOME RED BEETROOTS, WASH THOROUGHLY AND PEEL, AND THEM BOIL IN A MODERATE QUANTITY OF WATER FROM TWO TO THREE HOURS OVER A SLOW FIRE, BY WHICH TIME A STRONG RED LIQUOR SHOULD HAVE BEEN OBTAINED. STRAIN OFF THE LIQUOR, ADDING LEMON JUICE, SUGAR, AND SALT TO TASTE, AND WHEN IT HAS COOLED A LITTLE, STIR IN SUFFICIENT YOUKS OF EGGS TO SLIGHTLY THICKEN IT. MAY BE USED EITHER COLD OR HOT, IN THE LETTER CASE A LITTLE HOME MADE BEEF STOCK MAY BE ADDED TO BEET SOUP.
IF AFTER STRAINING OFF THE SOUP THE REMAINING BEETROOT IS NOT TOO MUCH BOILED AWAY, IT MAY BE BHOPPED FINE WITH A LITTLE ONION, VINEGAR AND DRIPPING, FLAVORED WITH PEPPER AND SALT, AND USED A VEGETABLE.
I HOPE YOU ENJOY.
There is an interesting dynamic going on the country and the world at large. At home we have our Child President throwing tantrums and showing his displeasure towards taxpayers/voters which is never a good sign. In the world stage we have Greece in the middle of a meltdown and that may drag the E.U. with it. Anyone who is paying attention will have to take note that the European Model of Governance does not work.
If America willingly surrenders its’ Super Power Status, as President Obama seems want to do, no good can come of this because who would step into our place, Austrailia?
I think that if anything is being discussed in real circles of thoughtful people it is that we must put aside childish things and once again become adults. We need mature leadership and need mature policies to deal with real, not imagined problems.
China? They will be running out of women for their young men soon and that would make for an ugly super-power. *cringe*
…yes and in someways I feel that the need for women is the biggest motive for China’s increasing forays into third world nations. The Spanish Conquistadors went to this hemisphere for God Glory Gold and Girls
Its eerie.. Hal Lindsey and The Late Great Planet Earth redux. It means very much to Christians that Jews stand up and take action against Hussein who hates the Jews and also because Obama is becoming very close to being acknowledged as the expected anti_Christ. Sometimes it seems like Iran and Obama are the same. Both must be stopped, Jews and Christians must unite against Obama and Iran.
Roger,
I am glad you are hopeful, and maybe this is an opportunity. I am in the epicenter of the liberal/Reform Jewish love affair with Obama (as recently as last month, my synagogue had a discussion night about the movie Avatar, which they described as “seen by some as a critique of the Bush Administration’s policies.”) My friends on Facebook gleefully posted about Obama’s seder at the White House (ZOMG! He LOVES Jews!) even as Bibi was being snubbed. What concerns me: the stats on the views of young Jews on Israel. Nothing near the connection to Zionism that is seen in the older demographic. The youngest generation of American Jews will vote liberal Democrat/Obama despite his (obvious) hostility to Israel, because their religion is actually secular liberalism with a Jewish flavor – show up at synagogue twice a year and eat matzoh – Israel unfortunately doesn’t have such a central role.
I hope you are right and I am wrong, but I worry.
“…The youngest generation of American Jews will vote liberal Democrat/Obama despite his (obvious) hostility to Israel, because their religion is actually secular liberalism with a Jewish flavor – show up at synagogue twice a year and eat matzoh – Israel unfortunately doesn’t have such a central role….”
I am acquainted with many of these young Jews, and you are right but it’s even worse. A lot of them ARE observant, have studied gemara, have lived in Israel, and STILL make up a majority of J-Street. I saw a photo of the J-Street inaugural party here in NYC and I recognized most of them from my summer at a yeshiva in Jerusalem, or from minyans here in NYC.
They “love” Israel the way any American Leftists “love” America: “We will beat you up and lie about you because you are not perfect, while giving nasty tyrants a pass because we don’t expect anything from them, but no, we are not racists and we love our country, except it’s a colonialiast oppressor which needs to be taken down a peg.” Meanwhile they all pat themselves on the back for being “social justice” crusaders in the great tradition of our sages, whose arguments they cherry-pick to support their self-regard.
I know several young rabbis who are actively pushing the Card Check law, and have all their (literally) Talmudic arguments neatly lined up in a row, about “dignity of the worker” and whatever. Like any Leftist they are totalitarians at heart, using Torah to justify it. And most of them are 3rd generation Red Diaper babies too. And because the establishment Jewish community shovels money at them and treats them like spoiled darlings, and they herd together like cliquish high-schoolers, they are impervious to criticism.
Believe me, the worse Obama treats Netanyahu and the more he tries to isolate Israel, the happier they are, and they’ll quote Isaiah or Akiva or Rambam or the Ishbitzer while telling you why.
Very insightful and depressing comment Yehudit — especially about actually recognizing many of your youthful Jewish-Camp friends). If we cannot even count on the Talmud-studiers to be Conservative or at *least* Zionist, then by G-d who *can* we look to within our own community? The *only* self-identifying group that I know of that is both Conservative and Zionist is the “Neo-Cons” — a group with whom I proudly (still!) identify myself.
The real answer, since the 1980′s at least, is that we Isra-philes can count on the Christian Right to be both Conservative and Zionists. Thank G-d for them. And I do more than that. I personally thank them whenever I meet one face to face. It’s a personal mission of mine and I think it’s a (relatively small) mission that would be well worth pursuing by the rest of us.
Is it “sad” that American Jews must rely upon the Christian Right to maintain the USA’s strong support of Israel? I don’t think so frankly. But I know there are Jews who wish it weren’t the case (due to the Christians’ supposed Eschatological motivations in doing so). I say, so what? If you are hitchhiking, do you care exactly where your driver is headed? As long as he is headed in the same direction as you, you take the ride.
Is it “sad” that Israel must rely upon Germany for much if its support in the EU? Well, perhaps, but there again, you take your support (for the most part) where you can get it. And this leads us to the whole Little Green Football / Geert Wilders (and Pajamas Media) split at which point I will stop since it should be obvious where I stand on that.
– FF
Hooray for you, Froomious. I have long said that with regard to Zionism, I have more in common with evangelical Texas Christians than with most of my co-congregants in New York City (there is a lot of handwringing about “racism” and a reflexive contempt for the Likud, “settlers,” etc., not so much about exterminationist rhetoric from the Arab camp). Yes, god bless them.
Thank you. It took me a full 20 years of adult life to fully come around to this conclusion. That PLUS living amongst these kind people in the Midwest (derisively called “flyover country” by the coastal liberals — and by myself as well a long time ago). But thankfully I did have the occasion to first go to grad school in Urbana-Champaign Illinois, and then live in the Fox Valley cities of Wisconsin. And it was there that I realized that almost everyone I met (with the exception of the *extreme* northern population of the state of Wisconsin (and Michigan for that matter) were not only Judeophiles but Israphiles as well. And this stunned me and started me on my path towards where I am today.
Another relatively minor example of this “type” of revelation that a mountain-hiking former liberal like myself had was that hunters are not only the most ardent environmentalists, but their support for the environment PREDATED anything by “Greenpeace, et al). It’s revelations like that can cause *real* change in a formerly snobbish liberal like myself (as Roger Simon is pointing out and obviously hoping for).
I agree with much of your assessment. But, as for younger people, have you tried working backwards with them in a conversation. Ask them what Israel means. Ask them how things would be without Israel. Find out what connection, if any, they feel between themselves as Jews and Israel. They may not have given this much thought. You can help them make some connections.
As for clueless synagogues, I will not be member of such places, but I do make it a point to engage the rabbi, if I can, by providing one or two books and a couple of articles. Now we have Lauder’s piece, and Wiesel’s, which are meaningful additions to anyone’s arsenal of materials.
It’s very hard, but we cannot give up.
Which is weird since there are six high holy days in the Jewish Calender: the first and last day of unleavened bread, Rosh Hashannah, Yom Kippur, and the first and last day of Tabernacles.
For a mirror image example, have a look at the emergence of the Maori Party in NZ. For 75 years the Maori vote was locked in by Labour and then Labour PM Helen Clark took away their right to take land claims to court and insulted a massive delegation by refusing to meet it’s leaders.
Now the new Maori Party is in coalition with the centre right National Party.
Conventional wisdom said it could never happen and Labour was booted out largely because it complacently took the electorate for granted.
There is much similarity between Clark and Obama. Clark had more brains and experience.
OH, to be a fly on the wall at a Team Obama meeting. Wonder what Rahm and Axelrod would be saying?
Soros must be fit to be tied. Gosh, hope he doesn’t swallow his tongue.
This is petty, but I would be fine with him swallowing his tongue. He’s a dangerous, dangerous man and hates America.
The Jews clung to Roosevelt even as he was passively condoning the Holocaust, since he was afraid doing something about it would result in too many “undesirable immigrants.” I.e., he feared that too many of the dispossessed Jews who would be spared death might come to America, and he preferred that they be gassed. Nonetheless American Jews loved him. Well, the sun also rises. Hope is a necessary vitamin, I guess.
President Roosevelt’s Apparent Reluctance To Help Europe’s Jews
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/holocaust/filmmore/reference/primary/index.html
“undesirable immigrants.” I think they used the phrase, “Eastern European”. Also, wasn’t there a boatload of Jews, all bought and paid for by American Jews, refused entry and sent back to Germany?
…and still they love FDR.
Jews have a death wish. WTH.
Nothing to see here, move on.
Jews, refused entry and sent back to Germany
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005267
Refugees on the St. Louis Refused Entry Everywhere
http://history1900s.about.com/od/holocaust/a/stlouis.htm
You say “all loyal subjects come back in the end”. I don’t think so in this case. Once a believer begins to doubt, then takes a step away, his view of the world is so changed he can’t return. Think of the famous communists who became apostates–Silone, Spender, Koestler; once they broke, they never went back but became fierce critics of their old ideology. Let’s hope the same happens with American Jews—and in time to vote right in November!
What you say is very true. I am, as my name suggests, Exhibit A. My personal experience mirrors what you wrote.
“Of course, I am not the first to point out that this is essentially racist toward Palestinian Arabs, implying that they are infants unable to do anything for themselves…”
Of course, I am not the first to point out that this is essentially white liberals’ racist toward black Americans, implying that they are infants unable to do anything for themselves…
Anyway, the white liberal racists got an overwhelming majority of the black votes, implying that it pays to be racist, no?
At last someone has it absolutely correct. It is somewhat amusing to be an outsider and to watch how the Democrats have pulled the wool over the eyes of the people they tried to keep enslaved. They have done it by changing history. So here are a few questions:
Which party started the KKK?
The KKK terrorized which groups?
Which party members were most likely to be descended from owners of slaves?
Now here is a really good one for you: whose family has ancestors that were slave owners?
And there’s this:
Obama’s Pressure on Israel Spurs a Jewish Group for Sarah Palin
http://www.nysun.com/national/obamas-pressure-on-israel-gives-birth-to-jewish/86918/
I’d join in a heartbeat.
Here’s the site:
http://jewsforsarah.com/
Being a non-Jewish Tea Partier, I can safely say that ‘inquiring’ Jews would be very welcome at Tea Party events. They might be pleasantly surprised. I’m afraid that many Jews (and Blacks and Hispanics and Gays and White Liberals and …) have long since cultivated an image of conservatives that simply does not conform to reality. Attending a Tea Party rally would likely dispel at least some of their misconceptions.
As a former liberal, I used to avoid anything that might upset my world view. Then one day I told myself that I was firm in my views and I could tolerate hearing from the other side. So I decided to watch Milton Friedman’s ‘Free to Choose’ on PBS. I became a conservative before the first episode was over. No telling what a little exposure can do.
I go to Tea Parties and as a Jew can tell you that from personal experience. I tell people, no one is keeping Jews and blacks out, they keep themselves out because they either genuinely disagree, or they have bought the MSM propaganda and think the Tea parties aren’t safe for them.
Liberal Jews think everyone is going to try to convert them. My only annoyance with Tea Partiers is they keep asking me why Jews are such liberals.
Well, it is an understandable question, but I’m not persuaded that even Norman Podhoretz has really figured it out. If he can’t, who can? I promise not to ask if I run into you at a Tea Party.
Indeed, it *is* an understandable question. I would try not to take it personally especially since I think it arises out of true befuddlement on the part of Conservatives who know Jewish Conservatives but who also know that the majority of Jews are wedded to the Democratic party.
Just in case you haven’t heard, we have two Jewish Republicans running for Congress in Illinois: David Ratowitz (5th district, against What’s-his-name Quigley) and Joel Pollak (9th district, against Jan Schakowsky). They both have websites. Go cheer ‘em on, and maybe even donate.
Both gave excellent speeches at the Chicago Tea Party yesterday, and I bet that they will have bright futures in Illinois.
Unfortunately, I know only chuckleheaded Jews who can’t imagine themselves voting for Republicans. I believe it’s because they or their parents weren’t allowed to join country clubs 50 years ago. They still think that the Republican party is the party of snobs. They also believe that Christians generally want to kill them.
Let’s face it–they are narrow-minded ignoramuses. But eventually they will change, as I did, when reality no longer matched the myth of the good Democrats.
The traitorous behavior of the Democrats after 9/11 was certainly an eye-opener for me.
All very familiar. Podhoretz’s book is a great one for helping those mired in the past to snap out of it and realize there’s a new day. Unfortunately, the book is quite dense which makes the read less-than-easy and I think most still stuck in the past wouldn’t have the patience to wade through it all. He should write cliff notes we all can use with family and friends!
Here are links to their sites:
http://www.ratowitzforcongress.com/
http://www.pollakforcongress.com/
Joel Pollack has a new TEA party song. It sounds very good and I hope that it catches on with the movement.
Roger, I find your personal story strikingly similar to that of Evan Sayet, who was indoctrinated from birth to believe conservatives to be evil, but as a “9/13 Republican” disgusted with the 9/12 Democrat reaction to 9/11, he was ready to put that aside and work with those evil RethugliKKKans on national defense.
And then something remarkable happened. For the first time, instead of hearing the caricatures of conservative thinking from his New York Liberal Jew echo chamber, he was hearing what conservative ideas were FROM ACTUAL CONSERVATIVES. And he realized that they weren’t anything like what he’d been told all his life.
In fact, his central thesis is that Leftist thinking is deliberately arrested at the mental age of five years, which explains why we can understand how they think, but they can’t understand how we think: We’ve all BEEN five years old, and we know how naive we were then. They can’t think like we do, because they won’t allow themselves to do so.
And one Jewish Republican – Randy Altschuler- running in New York! In a seat that we can win.
http://www.randyaltschuler.com
I think the Mayor of New York is Republican and the last Mayor was Italian and a Republican. And many jews in florida did supported Republicans in the last few elections (the surprise for Dems was the large support of the Cuban community). However, you are correct that many ethnic voters used to favor the Democrats. I think, like the Irish, and Italians, it was because of their working class roots. Over time, they have prospered and with prosperity they have tended to move to the right. Many now own businesses, hence, tend to see things from the other perspective. Reagan was a good example of this. I think he was even a Union, Democrat (yikes, I hear sudders !!) at one time in his career. Historically, though, I believe they tend to shy away from that right wing(ish) sort of venue, with the reasons being rather obvious. But hey, maybe you might see some of our Jewish friends and maybe even a few Shamrocks mixed in with old glory at a rally in the future! you just never know eh?
The mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, is no longer a Republican. He switched to being an independent in 2007. However, he still ran on the Republican line in 2009 (which is allowed in New York; a party nominee doesn’t have to be a member of the party).
Bloomberg’s definitely not a Republican, but at the same time, he’s free to criticize Obama on things like Medicare benefits and trying KSM in New York because he’s not liberal enough for the city’s Democrats and has never gotten their nomination. That still makes him annoying, but not on, say, the Chuck Schumer scale of annoying NYC politicians.
New York Jewish voters were comfortable with David Dinkins as mayor until Crown Heights cause a sense of foreboding — Not all Jewish voters switched to Giuliani in 1993, but enough did to give him the mayoralty, and they’ve kept not voting for Democratic mayoral nominees in the last four elections, to the point that 18-19 year olds born in New York eligible to vote in 2013 will have never lived for one second with a official Democrat Party candidate occupying City Hall.
If Obama continues to push his Israeli policy to the point that something does happen to create unease even among secular Jewish voters nationwide, my guess is you’ll see the same thing — at least a temporary move to the Republicans by enough Jewish voters to cause Obama serious key-state electoral (and fundraising) problems in 2012.
I did some checking for you and Bloomberg was a Republican, ran as a Republican and was elected as a Republican. However, like many NE Republicans, he disagreed with the party shift to the right and resigned from the party becoming an Independent in 2007. Also, the NY Jewish vote for Republicans has quite a long history, to include Senator Jacob Javits (R-NY), from the fifties to the eighties and Senator D’Amato (R-NY) in the 80.s both Republicans that enjoyed huge Jewish support. So you can be proud of this long history of “distinguished” folks that represented that state. All the best !
Oh stop. Michael Bloomberg was a life-long Democrat who ran for mayor as a Republican because it was politically advantageous for him to do so. After Republicans fell out of favor, he became an Independent.
Thanks for the checking – did you notice when you were checking that Bloomberg was a lifelong Democrat who switched parties in order to run for mayor?
If Dr. U has fundraising problems for 2012 then good. His funds need to be cut off!! Look at who is supporting and funding him… George Soros the Jew hater.
Obama should have a sign made, to paraphrase Baker ‘F— the Jews, they’ll always vote for us.
Maybe a good Tea Party sign? [with a picture of Roosevelt thrown in for good measure}
[with a picture of Roosevelt thrown in for good measure}
With that white joker face and red smile? Heh.
Sorry, couldn't stop myself.
A Jewish Tea Party get together would not have to have a majority of American Jews supporting it or even have real large numbers showing up to have a disproportionate effect. It would be a chicken hawk landing in the hen yard. Squawks, feathers, and screams from the far left/Islamic groups that infest the Obamanation administration. The JINOs could not refrain themselves from going on the attack. Much more difficult for the MSM to ignore something like that these days.
There should be more of an affinity between Jews and Libertarian ideas especially since “Road to Serfdom” explains how a totalitarian state can so easily arise from Left wing and Socialist ideology. For all the Holocaust museums and Holocaust research its amazing that such a popular work is simply ignored.
I don’t think there will be Jewish Tea Partiers because unfortunately too many Jews are now dependent on and frightened of the Democrats not just supportive of them.
However, plenty of Jews would consider Libertarian ideas if they were sincerely shown how it has relevance for their own history and their own lives.
Simon love your work.
Jews like many americans are caught in the culture trance. The left successfully infiltrated and now owns the mainstream culture and normalized socialism.
Plus, Jews don’t really believe the Dems hate Israel. They believe its just a show. Until Jews actually start dieing… Just like the 1930′s.
As a non-Jew, I have always admired the intelligence and the devotion to knowledge in Jewish people.
In my undergraduate years and in medical school they were great friends and wonderful people … people who helped me become what I am.
Jewish people are both survivors and teachers.
I think they will figure out this one out real soon now. They have been culturally conned for decades.
It will not last. And they will teach the truth.
“HC…may be against her husband, who was indeed a friend of Israel” Could this me more revenge over the Jewish intern, Monica?
The fact is most Jews in the US have no idea about Israel. They go along to get along. Sad.
At my Temple most are still for Obama but because most our for Obama. I got tons of emails from the president of the sisterhood during the election touting Obama. When I sent one opposed back, I got “we do not believe in political emails. don’t send them.” The stuff she was sending me was from ex-Cong Wexler D-Boca Raton.
Scaryy
The Obama administration is replete with people in important positions who have openly expressed hostility towards Israel. Samantha Powers leaps to mind. This administration has also attempted to stock its offices with even more virulently anti-Israeli individuals, but were forced to back down. The President himself has spent his entire adult life in the company of people with an antipathy towards Israel, and in many cases people who are outright anti-Semites. Some of us have known this since well before Obama’s election. The number of useful idiots now coming out of the woodwork has grown exponentially. While I’m glad such people are now seeing the light, I still can’t stop being angry at these fools for how they voted.
In order to hold the honor of being a “Jew”…a person should spend at least 1 year in Israel.
I find that no other “ethnic” group (That I know of) has little respect for where their people/ancestors have been, or what they have done in this world, as the American Jew.
SHANDA!
I am a life long Democrat Jew, who has screamed about Obama since the day HE LIED to us at AIPAC about Jerusalem… (and no did not vote for him)
I went to the Tea Party..
I own guns…
I no longer will vote for a democrat at this time until Obama is lame ducked…
The Obama Presidency is a complete downhill car crash on so many American values it’s staggering…
And I have NOT BEEN SILENT…
To those Jews at my Schul who stopped being my friend?
WAKE UP and no your friendship is not something I will compromise the security of the Jewish people and Israel over…
My Jewish relatives, friends, and acquaintances mostly agree with Obama on Israel. They despise the Netanyahu political wing and sympathize with palestinian propaganda. So, go figure.
another moslem troll. they are crawling all over the place.
Do they understand about the blood libel that was perpetrated over the Al Asqa (sp) mosque? You know the story about the boy that was allegedly killed by Israeli forces, except that the whole thing was a set up and the boy did not die.
Republican Jew from a likewise family. Yes, we exist. Joined a reform temple here in Connecticut when we moved from Long Island. Rabbi from Yale… Should have known. Finally walked out in the middle of the “sermon” during the High Holy Holidays a few years ago when he started bad mouthing Bush with pure BS. Haven’t been back since. Been to more than one Tea Party including the BIG one in DC last year. Next one here tomorrow.
From my perspective “this too shall pass”. I’m afraid a prior comment had it right. To many Jews secular liberalism is the deeper commitment. Most will continue to believe they are among the ruling elite, just like in Germany. Some learn from history. We don’t.
Good for you for walking out and not returning! Why not bring or send the Rabbi Podhoretz’s book or a few bingo articles from PJM or elsewhere that really crystalize the dire straights we are in? Nothing to lose, right?
Roger,
You asked via Twitter, what would we bring to a Jewish Tea Party.
I’d bring Husseintaschen, in mocking honor of another would-be destroyer of a nation.
Let’s make some noise!
you might also link to rabbi mermelstein at:
http://www.gunownersalliance.com/
he has in his archives, several discussions well grounded in the torah on jews and lawful self defense. he also has good advice on firearms for both yiddische and goyim
I think many Jews, particularly younger Jews, would be persuaded by arguments based on fiscal sanity. I used to be to the left of the left, but after living in Europe, I saw how destructive the end result of socialist policies is poverty and corruption. If I can be persuaded, then so too can other like-minded Jews. (Forcing them all to live in France or Germany for a decade may be a bit extreme, but I was cured.)
Some things must change, however. Jews largely associate conservative ideology with racist, gun-toting southerners. It certainly doesn’t help that many active people on the conservative side seem to have intertwined the more socially conservative side of the Christian faith with traditional liberal market policies. I think religion is private, and I would have a hard time voting for a fiscal conservative keen on including unscientific poppycock like young earth creationism in science classrooms. By returning to core principals of free markets, less bureaucracy, and less statist interference, many younger people of all faiths and ethnic backgrounds would respond positively. After all, Jewish and black entrepreneurs are just as affected by statist “drive-by taxing” as any white Catholic is.
Returning to the original article, I am personally disgusted by how Obama has treated our friends. All I heard for 8 years was how George W. had personally alienated our nation. After 18 months, Israel is screening their calls, Canada won’t invite us over to play anymore, India turns the lights out and hides under the coach when we pop by, and England broke up with us on facebook. Where is the outrage about that?
To Jacob #36.
Your post “…I would have a hard time voting for a fiscal conservative keen on including unscientific poppycock like young earth creationism in science classrooms….” is at best is confused, at worse you pin on Jews the worst aspects of cults like Islime.
Islime is a death cult. Your comment tells me you are owned by a similar cult.
Eh? This comment makes no sense. To say that I’d rather be responsible for my children’s religious upbringing and that a science class should remain a science class has nothing to do with being a cult member. This is going to be a sticking point with many people, Jews and non-Jews alike. It is hypocrisy to demand less government control over health care but then to ask the government to insert young earth creationism into high school text books.
I’m for less government, *full stop.* I’m not only for less government just when it suits me.
I appreciate your thinking and wish there were more room for it on the right.
and there there is KRUDD…. Australia’s own little Kevvie… who shares the same values as Dr. Utopia.
We are in as much trouble as you are in USA because we have a statist PM who played similar tricks, pretending to be centrist when in fact he is something else.
Contemporary North American Jews are simply repeating and perpetuating actions and attitude prevalent during the WWII events …
Nothing learned, everything forgotten.
That who they are and thats what they do.
Accept the facts and act accordingly: STAY AWAY FROM THE TARGETS!
The sooner we vote out ALL Democrats, even Jewish ones, both America and Israel will be much better off.
Besides, honestly outside of “making nice” Yiddish Mamaisms what have the Ackermans, Boxers, Franks, Filners, Graysons, Giffords, Schakowskys, Schumers, Schiffs, Waxmans, Wassermans, Weiners, Nadlers, and the rest of the rot – the Obama arse kissers done for us lately.
They certainly have been as silent on Obama’s Israel-bashings and NOTHING about Iran as Obama himself was for 20 years in David Duke in Blackface aka Jeremiah Wright’s pew. But they sure knew how to yodel and run to the trough to vote for an Obama Care vilified by MOST AMERICANS.
The sooner we’re rid of those who put their damn Obama, their party, and MoveOn.Org above America – and Israel – the better off we will be.
Otherwise if Bibi has to go it alone because of our cowardly lying anti-Semite, it is going to be very messy, and the consequences for Americans, not just Israelis, unpredictible but doubtlessly grim.
Remember November…
The poll is not an illusion, not do I think that it is a temporary shift. I come from a long line of those who voted the straight Democrat ticket. I am now a tea party partisan with friends and relatives who have awakened to the enemy in the White House as well. The Christian Right is not the primary problem by any measure. It is Obama, his cronies, and his groupies.
Um, why would it be hard to believe? And why should I care? Jews make up less than two percent of the population. I suppose you’re really worried about the Aamish vote.
Probably because of the large amounts of Jewish politicians in national, state, and local politics. It might also be important because this could be a trend of a stridently pro-Democratic constituency that makes a dramatic shift from one party to another. (Another example, though demographically more important would be the shift of black voters from the Republican party to the democratic party after the Civil Rights Act.)
Maybe I’m just kidding myself, but I haven’t seen that many Amish groups on the national scene raising money for any specific political parties, sponsoring fundraisers, running for office, standing in rows behind the President silently as he delivers a Jeremiah Wright styled beat down to Amish interests.
Bingo, Jacob.
P.S. oscar le grouche is a harrass-troll (not to be confused with a Jewish regular here who goes by the moniker ‘Oscar the Grump’).
As far as I am aware the Amish do not get involved in politics. They do not vote… what is your point?
In the voting booth, at the moment of truth, they’ll pull the Democrat lever to a man.
Hmm. I can’t remember the last time I voted for a dem.
Well, there was that Attorney General, who ended up leching around on the state’s dime. Should have known better. It seems to be in their political DNA.
I’m not so sure about that. Old habits do die hard, and many people may just abstain instead of voting for “them”, but I don’t know anyone in my family who is happy with Obama. In fact, the last time I was home, we all had a very frank discussion of Obama and the democratic party that left me pretty amazed. My family is bit more conservative than your average Jews, but most of us have voted democratic our entire lives. My Step-father (who is not a Jew but a lifetime democratic party member) said he may never vote for another democrat again. My mother agreed completely and grew quite upset at the lavish tax-payer funded spending spree Obama is going on. My grandmother didn’t even want to talk about it she was so angry. These were all people who mostly voted democratic their whole life and never really got involved in politics at all. In fact, I can’t remember ever having a political conversation at the dinner table.
To be honest though, it isn’t just Obama. It is Pelosi, Jimmy Carter, and the mainstream media that is driving a lot of the soul-searching. They were particularly livid over being considered racist by not supporting Obama. A stupid idea is a stupid idea, no matter who it belongs to. If this course keeps up, expect a lot of traditional democratic supporters to start voting with their feet *IF* the republicans give them something to vote for.
I think, based on history, that we have a pretty good idea what the Jewish vote will look like in 2012. In 1980, Dhimmi Carter beat Reagan 45-39 among Jews, with Anderson getting 16 percent. Allocate the Anderson votes proportionately to Dhimmi and Reagan, and you get about 55/45. So that is what happens to a Democratic President who treats Israel like dirt, and that is a reasonable guess on the 2012 vote. If 4 million Jews vote, the difference between 78/22 and 55/45 is 1.8 million votes. That won’t be great for Obama.
From what I have seen very few groups are as anti-Israel than American Jews. The Muslim population (where Obama was raised no matter what he might “be” today) is the only one who bests them on the hate.
this is a moslem libel. this is not true. what is true is seeing this posted on various sites. it is fake. it is slander. and it is bullsh*t.
Another excellent source of information is the admirable Jewish thinker, author, speaker and radio host Dennis Prager. I’d recommend challenging your left-leaning Jewish friends or family members to listen to his radio program for one month and to read his books, beginning with “Why the Jews? The Reason for Antisematism” and “Think a Second Time.”
When the Gestapo came for you as a Jew, it was no use to say, “But I don’t attend synagogue … I just eat bagels on Sunday mornings.” Antisemites worldwide do not care whether you are a devout religious Jew or a secular Jew who never attends services. Iran plans to reduce all of Israel to a cinder – religious and secular Jews alike. IMHO the Obama administration will not lift a finger to stop this and will not retaliate in any way after it happens. May God protect and preserve our friend and ally, Israel. For the current US administration certainly will not.
I got the pun the first time Roger. Do I get a years free subscription? ;o)
I just have a question. I am not being sarcastic at all. When did Jewish people embrace liberalism? Was there an event in American history that I missed? Just wondering! Of course on the same note, why does anyone embrace liberalism/progressivism. I’m more interested in the Jewish side of it.
Fear of the unknown? I’m not a Jew but I grew up amongst a family of Democrats all my life and ‘conservatives’ were always considered evil, greedy racist, poor-hating, selfish pigs etc. etc. ad infinitum, ad nauseum, ad idiocy ad et al ad yadda-yadda-yadda.
On life-changing summer for me was the summer my mother and her latest husband moved us to Alaska. We couldn’t afford cable TV so my sister and I read books like crazy. Whilst my younger siblings read fun adventure stories, I began reading non-fiction accounts of the Holocaust. I felt that part of me became a Jew, I could understand and empathize with everything the Jews wrote of in their horrific accounts. I was at once terrified of what human beings could do to other human beings and angered and hurt at the same time. Those stories are like ‘indelible’ ink upon my very soul to this day. The Holocaust deniers sicken me to the point of feeling violently ill.
The frightening thing is how much evil constitutes the past and current ‘progressives/leftists’ that have so easily infiltrated the Democratic party in greater and greater numbers.
For starters: Eugenics? OMG? REALLY? MOTHER EFFING EUGENICS?!!!????
How much of ‘eugenics’ is buried in the ‘obamacare’ bill for instance?
SCARY MUCH?
A much too much!
WAKE up, AMERICA! WAKE UP, JEWS!
OMG!
Here’s another one for you about eugenics- prenatal testing ought to be considered a crime against humanity, along with the abortion it enables. Now they want to develop a prenatal test for autism. O Lord, how long until you avenge the blood of the Innocents against the inhabitants of the Earth?
mb, look at what is happening to China for that very thing.
Sickening! Twisted! Beyond comprehension (speaking of Holocaust):
A Holocaust of Little Girls
The war on baby girls
Gendercide
Why is there no American ‘outrage’? There is none. Why? Because many pro-abortion women can’t let out a ‘peep’ regarding this heinous practice without looking like hypocrites. Oh how the worm turns and now this unprecedented use of abortion to have ‘only a boy child’ will turn an eventual Chinese youth into desperate, angry young men when they have no future of a woman and family of their own.
China: The world’s new superpower is beginning the century of its supremacy with an alarming surplus of males
Our world is becoming so evil and corrupt without compuction and people barely bat an eyelash.
I fear for humanity.
Look what’s happening to America. Social Security is bankrupt. Since Roe v. Wade we’ve killed about FIFTY MILLION people through elective abortion. Thirty seven years after the fact twenty million of those aborted should be working and paying SS taxes so that my next check will be good. We have created our own problem just as China has, only about half of our victims have been female.
The quickie answer Dot is that before the 1960′s, Republicans “generally speaking” used to be the ones who kept Jews out of their Country Clubs, who kept unofficial quotas at all the good Universities (Harvard, etc), and who, in general, disliked Jews. Henry Ford is a good example of such a Republican (although I actually don’t know how he voted). As bad as the Democratic party may have been (specifically FDR towards Jews during their slaughter during WWII), Republicans (or Conservatives, if you will) were generally worse.
The decade of the 1960′s changed ALL of this. And that’s when neo-cons were born (care of Podhoretz) and that’s when many, but still a small minority of Jews started “seeing the light.” Also it should be noted that the Republican party very much reformed itself during that period.
A very interesting point in post #9 regarding FDR and personal indentification with crippled victims of Hitler. Nothing strengthens the resolve as when something is personal.
There is an obvious link between jewish achievement and intelligence. The old nature vs. nurture conflict until the genetic pool reached a tipping point is my personal take on it. A paradox when contrasted against jewish poltical actions. Jewish culture is full of curiosities and paradoxes. Centuries of persecution have culled in favor of a bit of a passive/aggressive tendency to put it into modern pychobabble terms. Again a personal viewpoint.
My views are a bit unorthodox and certainly not politically correct. I believe that isolated breeding populations of humans tend to fix certain aspects of both physical and mental patterns in numbers beyond statistical chance. Again nature vs. nurture until a tipping point renders some of the argument moot. Once nature has used time to tip the scales, a change in basic temperment is not a thing changed quickly.
I look at my own heritage, values, and beliefs as an interesting example of hybrid vigor. On one side Scotch, English, Irish, the other ashkenazi jew. My first generation father married into lines with roots in Jamestown. Hitler would kill me and Israel wouldn’t automatically take me if I understand the maternal vs. paternal membership requirements at Club Jerusalem.
My father was too young to fight in WW2, but very much aware of the plight of the relations left in the old country, most of whom perished at the hands of the nazis. My paternal grandfather exercised considerable foresight abandoning a comfortable and successful life in Europe, getting out while the getting was good at the cusp of the 20′s. WW1 opened his eyes, he did not think it likely it was the war to end all wars. My paternal grandparents and their issue were textbook liberals.
All except my old man. I describe him as a NRA jew. To him “never again” meant less a world that would never again stand back and allow another holocaust and more a man takes positive steps to arm himself and would never be led to slaughter.
He had an inherent distrust of government, having witnessed government failing to uphold professed ideals and beliefs. He was a staunch supporter of the Constitution, viewing it as a constraint upon the power of government and a bulwark defending individual liberty. Nothing being more in a jew’s self interest than robust individual liberty. No liberty more vital than the unfettered right to self defense. Something unique in world history.
Until I first came across the definitions of the Jacksonian school I thought myself a creature of my father’s influence. I now think it rather more likely that studying US history led my old man to adapt and accept many tenets of Jacksonian thought.
It seemed to fit me like a glove. More than a pattern of thought, an inherent part of my being. The good and the bad alike. A quick temper but a slowness to rouse against injury until a line had been crossed. When the gloves come off the niceties disappear if an enemy is dishonorable, unworthy of respect. The choice between defeat and destruction being a pragmatic political tactic not a question of morality. The attack on Pearl Harbor begat Hiroshima. Germany deserved Dresden.
I find myself having wondered far afield. To bring this back on topic and a conclusion. Like my maternal side who drifted ever westward moving away from government control and American jews identifying as liberals a certain self selection happens. The jews like my father are in Israel leaving jews in American on the Democrat’s plantation. They’re smart enough to see the light but perhaps too stubborn to admit a mistake. Tipping points are just that, points in time that seem commonplace, anything but unique yet can wrought radical and unforeseen change. Thank you for your indulgences with my wandering diatribe.
Amused Observer: with respect to your quote as follows
———
I look at my own heritage, values, and beliefs as an interesting example of hybrid vigor. On one side Scotch, English, Irish, the other ashkenazi jew. My first generation father married into lines with roots in Jamestown. Hitler would kill me and Israel wouldn’t automatically take me if I understand the maternal vs. paternal membership requirements at Club Jerusalem.
———
THIS IS NOT TRUE. Israel WOULD take you in. Look it up on your own if you don’t believe me. It’s slightly complicated but Israel purposely broadened their definition of “Jew” specifically for the “Law of Return” (which I assume you are referring to). So, please, “step up” to Israel, they could use you!
Thank you for your information. It’s not a matter of believing you but ignorance on my part. A situation which you are improving.
My old man explained the maternal connection had two major reasons for being. The spawn of sown wild oats had little chance of joining the tribe without the support of the mother and the path of conversion provided a means for those who had genuine desire. The tribe had a small shot at increasing it’s numbers and subsequent survival without wasting energy and effort.
The other major reason was a pragmatic solution to an ugly problem. A frequent aftermath of pograms and the like was the obvious one of dead jews and the not so obvious of raped women. The tribe needed to replenish itself so the question of authenticity was made moot. If he lives he’s in. Mama will be motivated to influence the child’s upbringing etc. and the tribe gains members at a time when it needs them the most. A traumatic situation is made slightly less so and the return on tribal time and energy increased rather than diminished.
It is not my intention to lecture anyone on jewish history. My stock of knowledge is rather low. I’m merely offering context to my remarks. My sincere thanks to everyone who has replied. The more light the easier it is to see.
Actually your father summed things up rather well in my opinion as to why Jews have a traditional requirement for a Maternal link. Kudos to him!
your “wandering diatribe” made interesting reading, thank you.
Really interesting story. And I am sure Israel would welcome you with open arms.
Most secular liberal Jews are simply “brainwashed” into thinking that being a Democrat is part of their DNA as Jews. It’s quite pathetic.
Roger, for the sake of Israel, I hope American Jews get their heads out of their butts long enough to vote Israel-bashing Democrats out of Congress and they switch from Democrat to Independent… perhaps that will assuage any deep seated guilt they have when they vote Republican in November.
Well, we have Jews demanding that the GOP abandon the Christian Right/Social Cons and then they will join, and then we have Jews demanding that we abandon the Club For Growth economics, and then a few might be persuaded. And then we have Jews that say, the GOP should ditch the Conservatives and go for the Independents. What they really want is a Democrat Lite Left party without the anti Semites. Anybody looking for Jews to convert to the GOP in numbers is in fantasyland. They may sit out an election, but thats it.
Same with the Blacks and Hispanics. The brainwashing is seriously scary when one thinks what the Leftists really and truly think of ‘these people’.
Sick and effed up doesn’t even start the discussion.
As a Catholic I have a lot of difficulty with those “Christians” who believe things like Creationism. My challenge here is that I have not seen proof that “Creationism” forms any part of the Republican agenda. To me that seems to be an excuse for those who prefer to stick with the DNC even when they know that the DNC is nothing more than a bunch of Communists these days.
Can anyone actually prove that there is a link between Creationism and the RNC? Because it seems to me that a number of folk who push Creationism are in fact Democrats e.g. the Westboro Baptist Church…. and there are plenty of others that seem to push that particular agenda.
I own guns…
You would think gun ownership would be high among Jews, post WW2.
Gun-totin’ Israelis could teach Leftist American Jews a thang er two.
Click on my name for an organization that is trying to make a difference on that front.
A good Israeli news source:
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3877054,00.html
Huckabee for President. Do any other potential Republican candidates have as much support among Jews?
Pandering to white/black/hispanic/jew should never be a platform. Just because a certain candidate garners support from a certain populace should not make them ‘Jew friendly’ or ‘Black friendly’ et al.
If our country is EVER going to survive, we have got to get beyond that shiznit and start calling it like it is. AMERICAN SURVIVALISTS.
I respect Jewish culture and intelligence. I always thought the holocaust was the worst thing human beings could do and the mere utterance of committing a second one was virtually a crime against humanity. I have been left speechless when I see the world shrug their collective shoulders when Iran threatens to destroy Israel. I would shout down their pathetic leader and tell him we will destroy him for even saying such a thing again. I find this lack of courage on our leaders’ part to be beyond unconscionable. Why American Jews do not seem equally appalled stuns me. They are Dems, they stand by Obama and essentially they hate me because I am to the right of them politically. I am someone who would sanction the annihilation of Iran if they actual do dare to try to attack Israel or repeat the holocaust. In many ways I feel the same respect and protective feelings toward the Poles. I have more affinity to the Poles however due to their Catholicism. I just do not understand why Jews would stay bound to those like Obama who seems to have more affinity to Muslims who wish to destroy them.
Ron, that’s a damn good question. And as a Repulican Neo-Con Jew, I tell you you have every right to ask it.
Jews have friends on the right that will defend them just out of a sense of basic right and wrong and not because they are part of a voting bloc or because they always agree. You think they could see that the left only cares if groups vote for their weird ideas and they throw people under the bus who dare to think for themselves ( conservative blacks ,women etc). With friends like the left who needs enemies. It is odd that people who are generally wise in other respects don’t see the treachery of the left.
“Odd” is unfortunately a polite understatement. :-/ (It makes me pull my hair out!)
At least the Israelis seem to have figured it out but we need votes here. I bring it up to the Jews and Poles , I know , whenever I can.
roger, you potz, borshch (not borscht) is russian, not jewish, dish.
_Infectio iacta est_!, “the ‘dye’ has been cast,” can be no accident, not when His Freelordship follows it up with “We have seen it. Some of it is indelible.”
And the moral of *that*, Dr. Bones, is as follows: a _shtyk_ in itself pointless does not acquire a point merely because it results from Nominally Intelligent Design.
_Anne Neosemiticum?_
Yaleodrama mmarches on!
Healthy days.
It really is personal with Obama, isn’t it. He’s clearly anti-Zionist, but I don’t think it ends there. He’s recounted how, after embracing Christianity (and I’ll take him at his word on that), he searched long and hard for a church that spoke to him. That the one doing the speaking espouses a clearly anti-Semitic theology must say something about the man.
And I would love to go to a Jewish tea party. I hope you’ll keep us posted.
Help me out, here. What is the Progressive rational for the defense of Israel? I am irritated by people who voted for Obama, but are now turning against him.
What did they expect? To my mind, all of this was not just predictable, it was predicted. It was shouted from the rooftops. But the important point is that it was easily predicted. Set aside the real or alleged sympathies Barack Hussein Obama (even by his own remarks) would have for Muslims. The man was merely an academic – indeed, steeped in the academy, where most of today’s anti-Israeli sentiment lies – who had the most left-wing voting record in his short stint in Congress.
Anti-Israeli sentiment goes hand-in-glove with various Progressive ideals. They’re whiter and wealthier than their opponents (or are at least perceived that way). They refuse to give up their identity to the collective global centralization of government. They aggressively defend themselves and insist that each person be trained in the use of firearms and the ethic of self-defense. Those last items are the ultimate veto power against Leviathan, and are therefore wicked in the eyes of Progressivism.
The value of Israel as a Democracy in a sea of awful does not seem to be of much value to Progressives I know, despite how much joy they take in remarking at how bad the Saudis, etc., are. Progressives do not, by and large, care too much for their neighbors’ liberty (though they will sponsor their libertinism, which is something very different). Their objection to Mideast authoritarianism has always seemed more about it being the wrong kind of authoritarianism rather than a principled stand against it. (Otherwise, the point that we enlisted allies among Mideast countries because it was better than letting them fall to Soviet Communism would have more resonance among the Jews who did not abandon Progressivism to start the Neoconservative movement.)
It seems to me that defending Israel is the anomaly in the constellation of Progressive Jewish thought.
As such, it would be easier to get a camel through the eye of a needle than it is to get Progressive American Jews to re-examine their worldview due to Obama’s turn against Israel. Perhaps blood runs thicker than water, but on the face of it, it appears easier to jettison the anomalous thing – Israel – than it is to reconstruct the rest of the Progressive Jewish philosophical edifice.
I am proud to say that I was part of the 22% of those Jews who did not vote for Obama. Further, as a youngster I voted Democratic, then later in middle age, I voted more or less independent eventhough I was registered as a Democrat. In senior life I changed my affiliation to the Republican Party as the Democrats are too liberal for me.
I’ve written here before about this same concept of the closed-minded liberalism of American Jews, as it applied to my own personal experience. As a conservative Jew, I was pessimistic about my own generation (baby boomer), and that of my parents, ever being able to critically consider their support for Progressivism, the Democrat Party and now Mr. Obama.
As has already been postulated by several others here, I believe that, as far as Jewish voting patterns are concerned, the best case scenario for an American resurrection of republican government will be that only a slight majority of Jews will vote Democrat in the next two elections, and that many will stay home, and many will not contribute to Democrat coffers. That may be enough to yield a “mitzvah for America.”
Old patterns of thought die hard for most people, and, as my old and very colorful friend Larry told me years ago, after his own personal Waterloo, people rarely, if ever, really change, unless they are forced to by some otherwise unavoidable personal catastrophe. It’s a concept so simple and obvious on its face that it seems stupid to even repeat it; however, most people rarely appreciate the power of its truth. When you think about it, this idea is also one of the foundations of all “12- step” programs as well.
So, I guess the question is whether or not Mr. Obama’s ham-handed and naively revealing adherence to the Progressive agenda has created that personal catastrophe for many liberal American Jews. Obama’s administration, with its socialist economic policies, ever-expanding and ruinous debt, soft totalitarian big government organizing principles, faculty lounge anti-Israeli and shaded anti-Semitic attitudes, plus utter disregard for the U.S. Constitution and our founding principles in general, certainly should be alarming to most fair-minded Americans of all ethnic and religious backgrounds. But, I would hazard a guess that, as bad as things appear to be, they have not yet reached the level of obvious personal peril required to rouse the majority of American Jews from their dreams of the Progressive and secular utopia that always seems just a little farther over the next hill, just always barely out of reach and always prevented by conservatives and, specifically, Republicans. It gives me no pleasure, pain in fact, to think this, but my experience nonetheless leads me this way.
Let’s all work our best for a better future, and keep hope undying in our hearts. Remember this November.
well put dafranklin, I too have noticed people generally don’t change, they see what they want to see and disregard the facts, they read what they want to read, and disregard anything that would upset their beliefs.
by 2012 it may be too late for Israel anyhow, the die has been cast. Another thing the fact that near 50% of American Jews STILL don’t have a problem with Obama is simply a disgrace, but unsurprising, given that people don’t really change.
I don’t think for a minute that Obama and the Dems will not slowly drive the Jewish population to opposition…whether it translates to votes will be another matter as polls continuously show that for all people they think their local slug is doing a good job.
Israel to many is likely to be less of an issue than that aspect that is going to be intensely personal and hit the community disproportionately…taxes and regulations that force small business out of business. As more and more assets are confiscated and redistributed to the other plantation voters of the Dems, it will be more and more likely that the Jewish Plantation will be gone and will go for good.
Understand that this is not unrecognized by the Dem leadership…I suspect that they are counting on holding onto the Jewish vote only long enough to swamp us with the “legalized” voting plantation that they plan to create. They know full well they are losing 65% of the population unless they adjust the numbers…there are not enough Jews to do that.
I’m not at all sure Jews are “liberal” (whatever that means) and vote Democrat out of habit, or out of denial. I think it goes much deeper. I think what we are seeing here is a reaction to fear, it is appeasement.
It’s like gay Americans siding with Palestinians against Israel. It’s absurd, unless you consider the dynamics of bullying. When the nastiest kid on the playground goes after a weaker kid, and you know you are in his cross hairs too, what do you do? Honor would require you to side with the victim, but fear compels you to root for the bully in the hopes he doesn’t turn his sights on you. It’s ugly, but that’s how fear works.
Too many American Jews are way too comfortable to take a principled stand. They are hoping this whole mess will just go away.
But people do change. When their backs are against the wall and they have nothing left to lose, they can find remarkable courage they never knew they had. Just look at the people of Tehran last summer.
Roger, good topic for your article and I must comment that the responses to your article have been some of the most interesting reading I have come across on PJM..
A thank you to most everyone who has contributed here…
Great piece, Roger. Keep up the great work.
I desperately hope and pray that the American Jewish Community has opened it’s collective eyes to the ugly truth that Barack Obama and the Democratic Party are utterly and implacably hostile to Israel and the Jewish People.
Unfortunately the Liberal values of the American Jewish Community may continue to blind them to the existential threat that Obama’s hatred of Israel and personal anti Semitism presents.
Here we go again. At what point are people going to realize that with Leftists, it’s all about SAYING the “right” things as opposed to actually DOING the “right things. So to Jewish leftists, when Obama talks about a Middle Eastern Peace process, that has far more reality the his actions “dissing” Netanyahu and sucking up to all the tyrannies in the region. To put it bluntly, any Jew who didn’t recognize Obama as an anti-Semite, after the Rev. Wright episode is hopeless. They’ve simply lost anything that vaguely resembles survival instinct. I’m black and even I can tell you that anyone who has a good word to say about Farrakhan, does not have the best wishes for Jews at heart. It reminds me of nothing so much as left wing gays making common cause with Islamic fundamentalism. Suicidal!
Ken Besig Israel, unfortunately, there is a sure fire 100% cure for the blindness to antisemitism you refer to. I hope it doesn’t come to that, but when Jews ignore antisemitism, sooner or later it targets them personally.
Jacob. So you’re saying that Jews run politics. Good to know.
Hi troll,
I see you’re still playing your game. Get something substantive to say or quit. We’ll take you on point for point. If you still think you can knock my teeth out, I’ll try to make myself available.
Wow, that takes a leap of logic. I never said Jews run politics. I only countered your witheringly infantile point that the Jewish vote is as consequential as the Amish vote to say that this may represent a shift in traditional democratic strongholds. Since roughly 10% of the Amish vote, and as I mentioned, you rarely see massive Amish political engagement, your post is more than wasted space on the world wide interwebs.
Frankly, I am underwhelmed.
“I will stand with the Muslims should the political winds change in an ugly direction”. BARACK OBAMA from The Audacity Of Hope which is titled in Indonesia “Assualt Hope: From Jakarta To The Whitehouse”?.
It is arguable that “Assault Hope” means “Jihad”.
Roger L. Simon,
I hate to tell you this but your math is wrong. A shift from 22% to 46% represents a 24% shift. I wrote about this a few days ago where the tally was only a 22% shift. Still whether 22% or 24% or (G-d I pray for this) a 34% shift, it is very significant. A demographic move such as this can easily change the body politic. Had this been the case before the election, Obama would have been an also ran. More importantly, with this shift comes an influx of new energy, talent and money. I hope we can toast each other after the next election.
I’ll keep a couple bottles of Yarden chilled.
I still think this is only one of the more visible spats between the Obama administration and our closest allies in the world. So, a left-wing president is willing to sell Israel down the river to please the Arabs, which frankly doesn’t surprise me. Europe, most notably France, did that ages ago. But, the British? They have recently declared the “special relationship” over. And Canada? Why did Clinton think it was her business to publicly chastise the Canadians before begging for more help in Afghanistan? The loss of prestige in the eyes of our allies may dwell with us for ages. Maybe the tribe is one of the more easily measurable demographics in the U.S., but Obama has been far worse for the transatlantic relationship than Bush could have ever dreamt of. I only hope we still have some friends left in 2012.
Attention Amused Observer: The Orthodox rabbinical establishment in Israel decides who a Jew is—namely, a person born to a Jewish mother—but the Law of Return is a secular law, which, in a liberal and admirable inversion of the Nuremburg Laws, keeps open the door to any person with a Jewish grandparent, not to mention a Jewish spouse. So if you ever feel the hankering to relocate to Zion, not to worry—you’re in.
I think you need to make a distinction between secular/reform/conservative Jews, who reliably lean Democrat, and observant/orthodox Jews who pretty reliably lean Republican.
An analogy is the more religious among the black community who vote Republican because of their religious values. This difference should not be discounted.
The secular/reform/conservative Jews might vote AGAINST Obama in 2012, but dont expect them to turn on Democrats…much less embrace the GOP.
How’s that?
Mike Giles has put up the most sensible and pithy post on this whole thread, the obvious point which everybody misses. If any Jew didn’t get the kind of man Obama was after the Rev Wright affair came out just before the election, that Jew is in major denial. Yes this does not say much for most American Jews, no sense (no sechel as us Hebrews put it). They are like the Eloi in H G Wells’s ‘The Time Machine’, soft and stupid with no survival instincts, like Ha’Aretz readers in Israel.
But, you see, Larry, that’s my problem. I see the inverse situation. Most American Jews are Progressive. We may parse numbers, but we all know this is nevertheless true.
For at least 100 years – if not much, much longer – there has been a strain in European and American Jewish culture that argued for assimilation at all costs, including one’s Jewish identity. The theory, or rather sentiment, is that if one throws out their Jewish identity, people will no longer view them as outsiders. Sometimes that meant avoiding real persecution. Other times it meant being accepted in social groups.
Of the Jews that I know who volunteered for Hope and Change, ALL of them at one time or another expressed a distaste for Jewishness in a way that went beyond the sort of self-referential apologetics that make up stand-up comedy routines.
In other words, to at least some degree, it appears that to the extent one denies their Jewish heritage and culture is the extent to which they lean left. It’s not like the Progressive distaste for Israel is anything new. Reverend Wright is merely of a kind. He’s no shocker. So it’s no surprise that Progressive Jews didn’t run from Obama when Wright’s madness got out to the public. That’s just a part of the Progressivism they’ve been steeped in all their lives.
What’s anomalous to me is the widespread support for Israel among Jews. IT is the part that doesn’t fit – at least it seems so to me – because I can’t find a rational defense of Israel from Progressive ideals.
As an aside, I think this discord in Progressive Jewish thinking is what creates the (if I may) blood libel against Conservatives that their support of Israel only comes from the desire to watch it smashed under Jesus’ feet. Libels like that exist when one cannot deal with one’s own inadequacies.
European Christians were supposed to be superior in thought and fortune to Jews, yet were often less educated and poorer – why? Can’t be because usury laws are often foolish, or because mind is more valuable than faith and labor when securing wealth, or because Jews were forced to keep their assets in their heads when good Christians pushed them off their land and out of their trades. That would mean there was something wrong with Christendom. Answer with a blood libel.
Progressive Jews find themselves on the same side of Conservatives when it comes to defending Israel. Can’t be because Conservative (and, indeed libertarian) values suggest that defending Israel is both sensible and moral because that would mean there was something wrong with Progressivism. Answer with a blood libel.
Keep your Progressivism and your Israel, too, without having to examine why your Progressivism alone fails to support your ancestral homeland. Focus instead on why those who wish to see you well secretly want you undone, and you won’t have to look at why those you stand with face the other direction.
US Jews are weird, we all know it (by “we” – I mean the rest of the Jews in the world). But the “good” news is that US Jewry is evolving because of demography. In fact this is not a very good news because this is the consequence of assimilation and intermarriage. But the result is that Orthodox Judaism is rising while the rest is dwindling. It will be the main “denomination” (another strange US concept) within 20 years and Orthodox Jews do vote for Republicans much more than the other Jews.
By the way, I have a question – when we read than 78% of US Jews voted for Obama – Jews according to which definition ? Because, as you may know, the definition of who is a Jew varies. So maybe many of these Jews are not Jews in fact.
To correct Edward #70 – The Law of Return does not define who is a Jew. It gives access to Israeli citizenship. But if your mother is not Jewish, you are not Jewish according to the Ministry of Interior and the State Rabbinate and can’t marry in Israel.
“But if your mother is not Jewish, you are not Jewish according to the Ministry of Interior and the State Rabbinate and can’t marry in Israel.”
Are you saying that it is illegal to marry in Israel if your mother isn’t Jewish, or is it just illegal for Jewish people to marry anyone not Jewish as recognized by the Ministry of the Interior and the State Rabbinate?
I guess the Israeli government doesn’t want to encourage any miscegenation within their nation state.
Marriage is in the hand of each religious group. There is no civil wedding. If you are not Jewish according to Halakha no recognized rabbi will marry you. Reform and Conservative rabbis are not recognized by the State (and to be frank, by most of the population either) as rabbis and weddings they perform *in Israel* are not accepted (but outside yes). So if you mother is not Jewish you can always marry with a Christian or a Muslim, or you can marry outside of Israel and it will be then accepted by the authorities. That’s why thousands of Israelis go to Cyprus to perform a wedding – people who can’t do it in Israel or anti-religious people who don’t want a rabbi.
There is a new law coming for people “without religion”, meaning mostly new immigrants from USSR who are not Jews according to Halakha and who will allow them to marry between them.
Wedding is still very important in Israel, almost everybody does it, and almost no children are born outside of marriage (less than 5% – 50% in many countries in Europe), which is funny because there is no religious problem in Judaism with it contrary to Catholicism for example.
Thank you for clearing that up for me. It sounds less draconian and if fewer children are without both parents then also beneficial as well. I’m still not completely comfortable with the idea that religious authorities have some veto power over who can marry and who can’t, but I have no say in the laws of Israel because I’m not a citizen. As someone who lives in the southern part of the U.S., laws against one segment of her citizens marrying another segment of her citizens have until recently have been a sad reality, just saying.
One more question about Israeli citizenship. According to an article on Daily Beast, “Do Israelis Exist? by David Kaufman” there are no Israeli citizens.
“Sixty years after Israel’s founding, its citizens still lack an official Israeli identity; instead of being recognized on their ID cards as Israelis, most are registered as “Jewish” or “Arab.”
“There is no such thing, from the point of view of the law, as an ‘Israeli nation,’” said Jerusalem District Court Judge Noam Sohlberg as he rejected an earlier Ornan petition, in 2006. “The court must not create something out of nothing.”
Is there such a person in your view as a citizen of Israel or an Israeli nation? If the Russians aren’t Jewish or have no religion why admit them to Israel?
There is a small confusion here between citizenship and nation. Israel, following the old East European model, separates between both (in modern terms it means that Nation is Ethnicity) while the West European model makes them the same (Nation is Citizenship). I mean that You can be Russian by citizenship but not a member of the Russia people/nation/ethnicity.
The same in Israel – you are an Israeli citizen and you have a “leom” (you can translate as Nation or Ethnicity or whatever you want) that is Jew, Arab, Druze or some others.
What the Ornan petition wanted in 2006 was the creation of an Israeli leom and it was rejected because there is no such thing (or there is – it is the name of the Jewish people).
On the other hand, it is true that there is no “Israeli people” as one Nation. Arabs and Jews are not the same people and do not feel that they belong to the same people.
In Shule the Rabbi says the Koran & the Tanach are the same spiritually, my Zionist cousins in America tell me Israel will be better after Obama’s firm hand, my mate sends me a link to help fight Islamophobia, the kids come back from March of the Living talking about the threat of Global Warming and the Danish cartoons offend my smartest friend. These are all the opinions of Australian Zionists I’ve loved or respected most of my life and I can only think there’s some mad passion for self destruction built into us. To keep our spirits up when we hear this stuff a few select friends of mine start singing Brazil! because in Charlie’s Aunt that’s where the nuts come from and the other thing we do is read Roger Simon.
James @ 12.
He can’t be the anti-christ. False prophet yes. Fits the bill to a T. Doesn’t anybody read the bible any more?
I’m not sure I agree with your assessment Roger, that is about numbers of Jews waking up to the shortcomings of Obama and his political toadies, but if by chance you are right, I certainly welcome them to the cause, because once the epiphany
Not a day goes by that I don’t think the Good Lord for the Ben Stein, David Horowitz, Andrew Beitbart, and Evan Sayet’s of the world. I am real close to adding Roger Simon to that list.
“personal animus (though in her case it may be against her husband, who was indeed a friend of Israel)” … get a grip, Roger Simon. This is sexism. Believe it or not, women can do things completely without reference to their husbands. (For instances, their bosses force them to.)
I will believe it when I see it. Jews who are generally very bright people have a real difficult time
seeing whats wrong with Obama and the Dems. I wish they would wake up but again, I will believe it when I see it.
They will wait like they did in the 30s until it is too late, but this time there will be nowhere to go.
It’s about time. What took so long? I have been to every tea party, including the one in D.C. last September. What is wrong with the Jewish population? Obama is not only ruining our country, he is trying to destroy Israel. In my opinion, he is firmly ensconced in the Muslim community and is a dangerous individual. I cannot wait until November to get rid of the idiots in Congress; and in 2012, hopefuly, we will elect a real American!!!!
I am Christian, not Jewish, but my daily reading list includes http://jewishworldreview.com/
I send them money, because I have so often found their material helpful. One of these days, I’ll take them up on their offer to have a rabbi personally assist with learning Hebrew, or other Judaica studies.
The people behind that site are certainly not Obama supporters.
You are right Stuart, JWR is a great site and they are definitely not liberals. I commend you for supporting them. There are far more politically conservative Jews out there than people think. All my Jewish friends, including myself, are proud conservatives.
Thank you again Benjamin, your answers have been informative as well as restrained. You handled my questions in a way that punctured some ill informed prejudices I had about about Israeli society and laws.
I hope to read more of your thoughts at this site and may G-D bless.
It’s not just the Jews. Gentiles have friends and relatives that are just as wrong headed and stubborn. My observation is most people don’t want to worry about the issues. Choose a party and trust them to do the right thing. Because they’re lazy (when it comes to reading up on political issues) they don’t pay attention unless it hurts them.
But there has never been an administration this destructive. As they experience the higher taxes, inability to get jobs or change jobs, restriction in liberties (which I’m sure is coming), only then will they see the light. Hopefully it won’t be too late.
Victor Davis Hanson, today at the Corner @ Nationalreview online:
“Clearly Jewish-American voters are not factoring in Israel all that much in their political decisions and have little problem identifying with a party that has lots of problems with Israel — unless domestic politics have not caught up with rapidly changing attitudes in Washington…its six-out-of-ten support in America remains mostly rank and file.”
I came late to synagogue this past Saturday and arrived in the middle of the rabbi’s sermon. My rabbi is an American and I attend an orthodox shul, even though I myself am not orthodox. He was discussing the danger facing Jews today and urged all of us to take stock of what was happening vis-a-vis the increasing world anti-semitism. He did not mention Obama by name, but asked the congregants to become increasingly aware of the danger coming from the White House and asked all of us to read more, become more aware so that we could inform our fellow Jews better. I know his politics and I know what he meant. We need to education our fellow Jews, liberals, who by their own stubborn folly refuse to see the reality of what is going on.
Great story. Encourage your rabbi to write a piece for the local (or national) newspaper.
Admissions that mistakes were made is fine. But I want deeds not words. For every dollar the contrite gave to Obama, ten must be given to Republicans or Libertarians; for every speech or editorial praising Obama, ten are owed; and for every year a vote was cast for Democrats, ten are owed.
Until then the summer soldiers are not welcome.
Just wanted to say I really liked the post. You have really put a lot of energy into your posts and it is just awesome!