Kesher Talk: 11/17/2002

Friday, November 22, 2002

Preview of the Israeli Elections: A Brookings Institution event on Monday in Washington, DC.

Participants: Martin Indyk, senior fellow, Foreign Policy Studies and Yaron Deckel, Washington bureau chief, Israeli Radio and TV Channel 1

Location: Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave., NW. 10 a.m. (November 25, 2002)

Contact: 202-797-6105; e-mail, communications@brookings.edu

More on numbers and the essence of Judaism: The NYT article Rachel wrote about on Wednesday has inspired some heated letters to the editor.

Israel wants more aid: Israel has submitted an official request for special economic aid from the US. The $8-10 billion request includes a special grant and US guarantees for Israel government loans on overseas markets. Israel is imposing a media blackout on discussions with the US about the particulars of the aid, fearing that publicity will harm the chances of obtaining a positive response from the US administration before the elections in Israel.

How likely the nation is to get that funding, no one can say. However, it appears that the White House is open to increasing military funding to Israel. The Bush administration has formally informed Israel it will request $2.16 billion in foreign military assistance for it as part of its fiscal year 2004 budget. It is a slight increase over the $2.1b. the US has asked Congress to approve in 2003. Of course, no 2003 budget has yet been approved by Congress...

Zimbabwean Jews are weighing their options: South Africa's Israel Center has extended an offer of assistance to Zimbabwe's Jews. The situation in the country has gotten pretty nasty, and its 600 Jews are pondering what to do next.

According to the head of the Israel Center, Michael Mensky, Zimbabwean Jews who move to Israel will receive an “absorption basket” of financial benefits. He is lobbying for special recognition for them so that housing allowances, particularly for retired people, may be granted.

“The situation in Zimbabwe seems to be deteriorating, and we suggested to the community that if and when it’s time, Israel will be there for them,” Mensky said.

It’s not clear how many will take Vaknin up on his offer. Some Zimbabwe Jews do not see Israel as a viable option, others are looking at other destinations and some believe the situation at home will improve, Mensky said.

While most are taking a wait-and-see approach, “in light of what’s happening in the country, I think many are taking this offer very seriously,” Mensky said. “They feel comforted to know that there is some sort of a back-up plan lined up.”

Thursday, November 21, 2002

Latest bus bombing in Israel: A Palestinian suicide bomber killed 11 people and injured 50 -- including many schoolchildren -- aboard a crowded Israeli commuter bus in Jerusalem on Thursday morning. The bus regularly carries schoolchildren and university students, according to Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert.

Update: Ha'aretz has photos and bios of the victims.

The National Jewish Population Survey will have to wait: It seems a lot of data has gone missing, so the UJC has postponed the release of the NJPS report.

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Pesky liberal Jews who don't know what's good for them Dept. Somebody commented at Orrin Judd's site about another article about the newly philosemitic GOP.

I was recently at a party with some Jewish friends. We compared stands on lots of issues (Israel, Iraq, taxes, Hollywood, Bill Clinton) and were pretty much in agreement on everything.

But when I asked if they voted Republican, they said "Oh no we could never do that."

I don't get it. It's like its a cultural thing, beyond logic or reason or something.

Some people try to find out the reasons behind cultural attitudes different from their own. To others this smacks of the dread "multiculturalism," so they decide that anyone who doesn't see the world from their point of view must be "beyond logic or reason." I do occasionally hear these sentiments around the blogosphere, and it certainly doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy toward the Republican Party as an entity, although I do appreciate individuals of the Republican persuasion who are actually interested in finding out why the bulk of the Jewish community hasn't rushed desperately into their embrace.

Let me help you out:

First of all, to call our voting patterns - or those of any other voting bloc - "counter-productive" is condescending. "Counter-productive" to your goal of winning elections, maybe. But from our point of view, we are - like any other voting bloc - protecting our interests. Those of us who believe Israel is more right than wrong in the current conflict are appreciative that Republicans are supporting Israel, and mostly for sound reasons too (in other words, not because Israel's wars are the harbinger of the Apocalypse). We would like to think your support of Israel is based on ethics and geo-political strategy rather than hopes of a quid quo pro, yet I have heard a few Republicans grousing that we Jews should be more grateful. But Israel's future is not the only issue that concerns us, and most most Democratic politicians also support Israel, so if you want us to go Republican you will have to address our other concerns as well.

Yes, it's a cultural thing. Secular gentiles often underestimate how much their world view has been colored by the prevailing Christian culture in this country, and many white gentiles, especially those who don't hang out with Jews on a regular basis, tend to think of us as just like them except we don't believe in Jesus. (Depending on their relationship to Christian faith, this is either way cool or regrettable.) Partly this is a result of the "Judeo-Christian" meme, which was propagated for political reasons and leads to misunderstandings about both religions. Although Christianity grew out of Judaism and they share some texts, they developed in very different directions (albeit with a bit of cross-fertilization) for 2000 years. So if Republicans make assumptions about what Jews believe and care about, they may stub their toes as did the commenter above.

Judaism is the original social justice religion - every Shabbat in shuls all over the world some Bar Mitzvah kid is chanting a selection from the Prophets. Jews stand out as the one ethnic group in America which keeps voting liberal as it grows more prosperous. Jews have made up a large percentage of the labor and socialist movements of the early 20th century, and their children became "Red-diaper babies": Freedom Riders, SDS members, libertarians, feminists, ACLU members, experimental artists and their patrons. In the Jewish world 2 degrees of separation is more common than 6, so most "conservative" Republican-voting Jews have family affiliated with these groups and attitudes, and many are proud of their activism if not their exact views.

After all, compassionate rules of war, tithing, sharing wealth as an act of justice rather than charity, challenging God ("Yisrael" means "God-wrestler"), respecting other religious paths, intellectual debate, raising children to value study and intellectual exploration, mandating pleasurable sex as a wife's right, speaking truth to power - all these attitudes are hard-wired into our religious practice and mythology. Even totally secular Jews are very conscious of and proud of the social justice part of our heritage. (For some it is the only thing about their heritage they are proud of and they apply it to fervently working for causes that are not in the best interests of Jews, but again, most of us who disagree with them will concede that the activism itself is "very Jewish.")

So Republicans need to appeal to Jews' desire to pursue justice and make the world a better place, rather than to a desire to protect the status quo. For example, if they argue in favor of free markets, it should be because markets work best to make the world a better place.

Republicans need to convince us they will maintain a separation of religion and state. Many of us have personal memories of being forced to pray Christian prayers and sing Christian songs in school, or getting beaten up or ostracized for not doing so. We are acutely aware that large swathes of the Republican religious right still think we are heathens and want to convert us. When missionaries ring our doorbells, we don't think "Democrat." We don't trust that "faith-based initiatives" will be impartial. Many of us feel very strongly culturally Jewish without any desire to express our identity through religious activities.

Our traditions have never led us to expect that the whole world should believe as we do, and we are used to functioning as a small minority in many different cultures for over 2000 years, so most Jews have no problem making a distinction between our personal moral choices and what is necessary to maintain a pluralistic society where minority rights are respected. So we tend to trust politicians who support civil rights and civil liberties, including keeping abortion (which is discouraged, although not forbidden by Jewish law) safe and legal, whether or not we as individual Jews would get an abortion, watch pronography, burn a flag, face discrimination in the workplace, or what have you.

Like every American ethnic group, American Jews have relatives all over the world. Most of us are at the most 2 generations from immigrants. We tend to support politicians who believe that immigration in general makes our country stronger. We tend not to support isolationists. At this point in time, Republicans are more interventionist than Democrats, although often the reverse has been true. We have a highly developed sense of history and geography, and are well aware that we have lived through previous Golden Ages which inevitably ended with persecution and misery, so we tend to be skeptical about wooing by political entities - they are fickle.

Finally - did someone say this already? - it's a cultural thing: Even suburban middle-class Jews tend to think of ourselves as more ethnic, urbane, artsy-fartsy, entrepreneurial, emotionally "authentic," and encouraging of independent thought in our children, than our gentile neighbors. We tend to stereotype Republicans as: WASP, corporate, suburban, lowbrow, preoccupied with being "nice" to the detriment of honest emotion, believing that children should be "seen but not heard," having bland taste in music and literature. (And dumb enough to pay retail.) Both stereotypes may not be true or even desirable, but it's our own little bit of in-house bigotry. So not only are we are not amused when Republicans try to ban books, put drapes on statues, gut the NEA, or refer to us or our relatives as "pointy-headed intellectuals," our opinion of WASP culture is reinforced.

In short, Jews will vote for whichever group aligns with our deepest desires for a just compassionate society and lasting security for individual rights (including freedom of worship, assembly, conscience, speech, etc., which in turn guarantee our survival as a distinct ethno-religious group). Is this the Republican agenda? You decide.

PS My comments are based on a bit of reading and a lot of personal experience with many different Jewish communities and several different parts of the country. This article come to much the same conclusions based on some sociological research. I will quote a few juicy bits but read the whole thing:

Jews generally have an all but hardwired propensity for avoiding theological and religious terminology when describing themselves. Hebrew, for example, has no exact equivalent for the word "religion." . . . the majority of American Jews should be understood as deists: They define themselves as members of a religious group yet they possess a distinctly secular outlook.

. . . Jews were supposed to assimilate into American society, yet their exceptionalism persists. They are not like the rest of America. By virtually any measure America is a Protestant society. It is a land of spiritual searchers, associational religion, and belief in personal salvation. Yet this hardly describes the majority of Jews. Indeed, it better describes Orthodox Jews, who are of course a small minority of Jews . . . . In short, most Jewish hearts and minds are not part of white-bread, Main Street America. Rather, the well-educated Jewish masses appear to emulate the secular elite of Europe. Whom do American Jews most resemble from a sociological and demographic perspective? The Dutch or Scandinavians: an affluent population with low fertility, well-educated and emancipated women, low levels of religiosity, strong communitarian values, tolerant social attitudes, liberal outlook, and center-left voting records. . . .

Issues surrounding the place of religion (and race) in society often play out in America the same way that issues of social class do in other democratic states—that is, in political party alignment. In Europe, for example, the left-wing and socialist parties exist to advance the interests of the trades unions and the socially and economically disadvantaged, while the Conservative parties and the right have a well-defined platform representing the opposing interests of capitalism and the wealthier elements in society. In the United States, the more religious tend to support the Republican, rather than the Democratic party. . . . American Jews are the mirror image of the Pentecostals and Mormons who occupy the opposite end of the political spectrum—even after controls for social class, education, and geography are taken into account. Time after time, Jews stand out as being the most politically aligned with the Democrats . . . The evidence thus seems to bear out Milton Himmelfarb's famous aphorism that Jews live like Episcopalians but vote like Puerto Ricans.

. . . . Truly assimilated American Jews—those whose religious and cultural affinities have led them to leave the fold completely and adopt other faiths—assume a political profile mirroring that of Christian America.

To be a Jew: I'd like to comment on a few things. First, I would like to share with you folks something that happened in my class today (I teach an undergraduate sociology of religion course). We are starting our section on religion and the economy, and today we were simply generating many examples of the different ways religion participates in the economy. We came up with such diverse examples as its role in and being affected by 9-11 to entertainment industry boycotts to the simple need to pay utility bills and keep up the building of your respective church/synagogue/etc. One of my students shared a story with us about a church that would contact the relatives of members who had not attended services in awhile. These relatives were told that the church lost x amount of money due to the absence of this particular member. It was suggested that the relatives pay that x amount of money in order to keep the member on the official membeship roster! OUCH!

Interesting story # 2 about another church: a church was running a children's campaign as part of a larger building fund. The children were told that they needed to go home and ask thier parents to give money to the church to support the building! OUCH*2! It's amazing to think about religion in such economic terms! What happened to the beliefs, spirituality, community, etc.?

This brings me to my rant about The New York Times op-ed that Howard emailed me today. I don't know if I am a "bad Jew" for feeling this way, but I very much agree with this author would sounds like he is frustrated that some Jews appear to be more concerned about the numbers of people who call themselves "Jew" rather than being concerned with the substance of the religion. I have never cared about numbers, but by what is in people's hearts. A jew by name only, just to be labeled a jew, really doesn't mean a whole lot to me. My personal interest has always been in jewish values, especially the social justice and taking care of your fellow person aspect. I also think it's one of the most loving and logical set of beliefs out there. For these reasons, I have always been proud to call myself Jewish. However, I recognize that the number of Jews in the world is dwindling and this is a serious problem for many people. I remeber when I was 15 sitting in a sunday school class listening to my sunday school teacher telling me how important it was to marry a Jew. I raised my hand and asked why wasn't love more important. I don't recall her being able to answer me. The point being, I love the values and beliefs and rituals associated with Judaism. Personally, I think having those substantive qualities is far more important than a title. But, this is only my opinion and recognize that many people feel differently. One last thing, I have never cared to call judaism a race. The author of this article points out that Judaism being treated as a race was done so for the purpose of persecution. Ok i'm done! :)

Wise words from Ireland. Haaretz interviews David Trimble, member of the British Parliament and head of the powerful Protestant Ulster Unionist Party, on defusing a decades-old terrorist culture:

"You can tolerate a situation where a small percentage completely withdraws from participation in society, but when you get to that sort of percentage, if they wish to disrupt and cause problems, they can do so. It is much better to have a decent structure within the society, to find some way of ameliorating and encouraging people to participate. So it was in our interest - and we keep saying that in meetings - to make Northern Ireland work."

But Trimble does not claim that the Israeli-Palestinian situation can be changed just by establishing a workable Palestinian state (not that that would be an easy task at this point). He is clear that a major factor in preventing peaceful negotiations is the fact that the surrounding Arab states encourage the radicals.

"Among Northern Irish nationalists, there were two main streams," explains Trimble. "The militants in the IRA and the moderates in the SDLP. South of the border, the Irish republic consistently supported the moderates. If the southern state had supported the IRA, we could never have had an agreement. Because the moderates would never have been able to make an agreement against the wishes of the state, which they regarded as their state.

"The analogy I would draw from that, looking at Israel and the Palestinians, is that you have Hamas as the equivalent of the IRA. You might look at Arafat as the equivalent of the SDLP. But the states toward which [the Palestinians] look for support - the Saudis, the Iraqis - all support Hamas. So Jordan might offer support, and Egypt might be more moderate, but Jordan is too small to matter, and Egypt is in the wrong place . . . The ideology that motivates the attacks on Israel - attacks which take place, in part, because of its identification with Western values - has not been neutered in the way that the ideology of the militant Irish republican has been neutered. So, changing the outlook of the Saudis and changing the ideology are the same thing. Persuading the Saudis that they should support moderates rather than militants is the same as changing their ideology.

Interesting tidbit:

Trimble relates that one can find Israeli flags flown in Belfast by Protestants and PLO flags flown by Catholic nationalists.

(via Haggai)

Anti-Israel Protest Scuffle Dept. There are many ways to use a blog for political purposes besides publishing ranting screeds. One way is to publish an announcement of a controversial speaker and ask people to show up. Stefan showed up and had an interesting time.

Argentinian Jews are replenishing Jewish ranks in Montreal: Alejandro Boim and Mariana Semino arrived last month in Montreal during an early snowfall, but that was hardly the biggest adjustment. Stranger was seeing people on the street smiling. "Back home, people don't smile any more," said Mr. Boim.

The couple is part of a fledgling contingent of Argentines settling in Montreal to escape their homeland's economic turmoil, and they are being embraced by a group eager to have them: the city's Jewish community. Faced with its own outflow of young people and a dramatically aging population, Jewish community members are eyeing Argentina, and to a lesser extent France and Belgium, as a source of replenishment for the oldest Jewish community in Canada.

For Boim and Semino, that means Montrealers are helping them settle in and get started. And that is tons more than anyone ever did for fresh immigrants a hundred years earlier.

Goodbye, Abba: Abba Eban, who eloquently made the case for the establishment of Israel, later served as ambassador to both the UN and the US, and in his waning years worked tirelessly for a peaceful solution to the conflict with the Palestinians, has died. The cause of death was not released, although Eban had been ill for some time.

Clever, Loyal, Trustworthy Native Guide. Yours truly gets Bruce Hill into trouble.

Tuesday, November 19, 2002

Welcome the new Jewblogger: OK, everyone, please welcome Rachel Kraus, a new contributing editor on Kesher Talk. Rachel should be able to steer some of the discussion onto topics other than the bette noir of Judith and myself (Israel and the Middle East). Any of you so inclined should say shehianu...

Hi all, I'm new to Kesher talk. I met Howard through my boyfriend Jeff and he pointed me to this site. Quite honestly, I do not do a good job of keeping track of Jewish events or the happenings in Israel. I'm a sociologist of religion, studying religion and politics on Capitol Hill. The most I can do is offer unsolicited ramblings about religion in general. I just had to test out this system with my first post! :)

Lost tribe doesn't want to prove itself: Hillel Halkin has written a book on the Bnei Menashe, a potential lost tribe of Israel (children of the biblical tribe of Manasseh). But the Telegraph reports that the supposedly long-lost Indian Jews do not want to take DNA tests to prove it.

Oil prices won't soar when we take out Sadaam: Nobel laureate Gary S. Becker, writing in Business Week (Nov. 25), suggests that as long as the war is over relatively quickly, we won't see any rough spike in the price of oil:

After a defeat of Saddam, a friendlier and more democratic Iraqi government is likely to be installed. Oil prices would then fall further than they did after the Desert Storm cease-fire, since that government would be released from the oil-embargo restrictions that were imposed on Iraq under the previous regime. A new government would also look for oil revenue to help rebuild an Iraqi economy that has deteriorated so greatly under Saddam. Since Iraq has the world's second-largest oil reserves, it has considerable potential for greatly increased production.

Mother killed in terrorist attack: Galia Esther, a 49-year-old mother of seven from Kochav Hashahar, was killed yesterday in a shooting attack near the West Bank settlement of Rimonim, on the Allon Road, some 15 kilometers northeast of Ramallah. (Ha'aretz)

Palestinian army developing long-range artillery: Maariv reports that the Palestinians have manufactured a number of large artillery pieces in Gaza, although they are not yet ready for use. Two weeks ago the Palestinians fired one of the cannon at Kfar Darom, but the shell traveled only 300 meters and struck Palestinian buildings. Security sources say the Palestinians are working intensively to acquire new weapons and in time will succeed in improving the range and utility of the cannon. However, the cannon are so large that they are difficult to move and thus easier for the IDF to locate and destroy..

Monday, November 18, 2002

Anti-war "health professionals" rally with a useless report: My latest TCS column disects a misleading Medact report arguing against an Iraqi invasion.

Sadaam's plan B: Escape to Libya into the waiting arms of his buddy Moammar.

Onion solutions to conflict in the Middle East. I find the best links in comment sections. Haggai visiting Tal G points us to The Onion's solution to ethnic conflict. Leo points us to another Onion report on a significant change in Muslim culture. (I assume he copied it to his own site because it wasn't available at the Onion site anymore, but Leo, it's good manners to include copyright and attribute the article to its original source, okay?)

UPDATE: Mad Magazine satirizes The Onion. If it wasn't so late at night I would be able to come up with a pithy comment about recursiveness. (via Maxpower.)

Funniest blog of the week Dept. I scold my fellow lgf commenters when they start frothing at the mouth (i must say the folks who get together in person seem to be fairly sane), but I continue to read them because of occasional thoughtful discussions about very difficult subjects and sometimes they really crack me up, like these, er, inventive responses to al-Qaida's threat to attack New York and Washington unless America converts to Islam. Such as:

The problem is that they're dealing with people who are dumber than they are:

MUSLIM MILITANT: You are a pig and a monkey!

WESTERN LEFTIST: Islam is peace. I'm an atheist, myself, but I don't believe we have the right to knock non-Western religion.

MUSLIM MILITANT: An atheist! A pagan! By Allah, you will die!

WESTERN LEFTIST: Hey Omar, take a chill pill, O.K? I know you're mad about the oppression of your Palestinian brothers and American unilateralism. Hey, I don't blame you! But you're talking to a friend now. I feel your pain!

MUSLIM MILITANT: Feel this, O thou unbelieving dog!
(Kicks leftist in balls. Leftist sinks to knees.)

WESTERN LEFTIST (gasping): I deserved that. Even though I am the most moral and enlightened person I know, I am white and thus am serving as the proxy for the sins of the West, the atrocities of Sharon, Bush, and Richard the Lion Hearted. I know it's not personal.

MUSLIM MILITANT: Not personal! (begins kicking Leftist repeatedly) Yes it is, you son of a ugly sow. I scorn you and your whorish women. I will rape your wife. I will make slaves of your children. I will boil you in oil and skin you alive if you do not accept the true faith!

WESTERN LEFTIST: (prostrate and bleeding, he covers his ears with both hands) LALALALALAISLAMISPEACEITSALLABOUTOILLALALALALABUSHISACOWBOYLALALALASHARONISANAZILALALALA

There's lots more. Do not read if politically incorrect humor upsets you.

UPDATE: More rage fueled by the humiliation of the powerless. or something.

Sunday, November 17, 2002

Arabs and Muslims for Peace and Co-existence with Israel: Lynn B. catalogues the many American Jewish groups that advocate an "end to the occupation," a "just solution" to the "refugee problem," etc. But then she has to ask, "With so many specifically Jewish groups devoted to promoting Middle East "peace" at any price, where are their Arab or Muslim counterparts? Where are the Arab and Islamic organizations calling for co-existence, compromise, cessation of violence or even acknowledgement of Israel's right to exist?" Her findings do not encourage.

Another silly quiz:

Which era in time are you?
(found at the American Kaiser, who was the 80's)

Kesher Talk

Friday, November 22, 2002

Thursday, November 21, 2002

Wednesday, November 20, 2002

Tuesday, November 19, 2002

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