K-Swiss on Jewish Liberalism

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day. It's easy to view this holiday as just another vacation day from work (and don't get me wrong, that's a wonderful thing too), but we should also remember just how much it means to honor our soldiers who gave their lives to protect our nation.

I am traveling this week, so posting will be light for several days. In the meantime, though, our Washington correspondent "K-Swiss" checks in with a reflectively hard-hitting essay on the seemingly paradoxical axis of American Jews and leftist liberalism.


Jewish Liberalism in America
by K-Swiss

Last month in Washington D.C., as in many other cities around the nation, rallies were held urging the Bush administration and Congress to help end the genocide taking place in Sudan's Darfur region. While news of the actual genocide has received only occasional media attention (and in these few instances, it is very seldom mentioned that Arab Muslims are the perpetrators), the “Save Darfur” rally did attract significant coverage from both the local and national media. In the days leading up to the rally, I read many articles and watched numerous TV pieces about the timing of the rally, the purpose, the location, the celebrity speakers, etc. And within this media space, one thing in particular stood out to me: the number of Jews and Jewish organizations helping to organize the rally and in attendance at the rally. Ranging from the keynote speakers to the participants being interviewed on TV (many Jewish-sounding last names) to my own circle of Jewish friends in D.C., it seemed as though Darfur was a specifically Jewish cause.

Now in itself, this is a truly great thing. Rallying to end genocide is a noble cause and a moral obligation, and it takes on special importance to Jews in particular because of the Holocaust. But during post-rally coverage, I could not help but wonder to myself - how many of the Jews at the Darfur rally had ever attended an Israel rally? How many of them denounced President Bush at the rally even though he has arguably been the most pro-Israel President in Israel’s 58 year history? How many of these people would give anything to save Darfur, but ignore the genocidal remarks made against Israel by Iran's President Ahmadinejad?

Unfortunately, the answer seems to be too many. Having lived in D.C. the past few years, I have seen a disproportionate amount of Jews leading rallies and at the forefront of liberal causes such as abortion rights, gay rights, feminist rights, saving the rainforests, stopping the Iraq war, etc. Jews, more than any other people, seem the need to flaunt their liberal credentials at every turn. But if something is considered "non-liberal", such as the Republican Party, many of these same Jews will turn completely against it, even if that non-liberal institution greatly supports Israel.

While in the past, it was the liberals and the Democratic Party who most supported Israel, the tables have turned in the 21st century, and it is now the conservatives and the Republican Party who most vociferously support the Jewish state. Yet a majority of Jews in America have either not woken to this realization or have not bothered to pay attention to it.

Jews here in the U.S. are at a crossroads, and we must ask ourselves where our priorities lie. Does saving the rainforests take priority over supporting a strong and secure Israel? Is rallying for abortion rights more important than rallying for freedom in Iran? How Jews answer these questions and other similarly pressing quandaries will likely determine the future of the Jewish people in this country.

Let's make the right decisions.

TheSolidSurfer.com responds: K-Swiss, thank you for the piece and for your astute insights and analysis. Jews in America are indeed quite liberal as a whole, and I also feel that the community's support for Israel (as well as its general vitality) could be greatly strengthened by adopting more "conservative" positions and values. This can be accomplished, in my opinion, my addressing the root causes of this ultra-liberalism, something Dennis Prager often discusses in his writings.

Hope everyone has a great week, and I look forward to resuming regular posting once I return from my trip. (And look for other guests to potentially appear soon on the site as well.)