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Date Posted: 12:12:58 10/14/09 Wed
Author: muppetmel
Subject: Oooh, I forgot the part about why...
In reply to: Jeannine 's message, "Muppy, I either didn't know or somehow forgot -" on 10:23:09 10/14/09 Wed

.... so many Jews vote Democrat -- 78 per cent in fact supported Obama. I get asked this a lot, so I have honed this answer over time. See if this helps, but I do think it's only part of the picture.

Why so many Jews support Obama

You will very rarely find a democrat voter among religious Jews. You won't often find a Republican among non-religious Jews. Why is this? Because religious Jews' adherence to Torah law most closely aligns with evangelical Christians on social issues like same-sex marriage, abortion, etc.

It's what we generally call "G-dly values" or what was thrashed around during the GW Bush years as "family values."

Excluding the whole messiah issue, we're very much in tandem with the moral majority, and that's the fact. You can see why secular Jews often villify not only Evangelicals but also religious Jews.

To complicate the issue, religious and non-religious Jews almost all strongly support Israel. This excludes both extreme left and extreme right. Why? Extreme left have blinders on regarding the Palestinian issue. They view Israel as the evil oppressor, negating 100 years of Arab hostility, massacres and terrorism, and Israeli resilience and ability to FIGHT BACK.

They believe in creating a Palestinian state by carving away swaths of Israeli property, without any preconditions requiring a Palestinian state to commit to living peaceably alongside Israel and stop the terrorism and barrage of missiles on Israeli towns.

They ignore the fact that Israel has already given up much territory in the misguided idea that giving up land will bring peace. Has it stopped the missiles raining down from Gaza? No.

They believe that Israel, unlike every other country in the world (including the U.S.), should be required to give back land it won in a war of aggression perpetrated AGAINST IT.

They think that when Israel builds a wall to keep terrorists out, it is being divisive and isolationist. I saw the wall up close and personal, just a stone or grenade's throw from hostile Arab terrority. I travelled in a bullet proof bus with armed guards to visit a holy Jewish site -- Rachel's Tomb -- with only that wall between me and the enemy. I saw graffiti plastered all over that wall screaming for the evil Zionist empire to get out -- and irony of ironies -- the graffiti was all on the SAFE side of the wall.

But enough about the Jewish left.

Extreme rightist religious Jews do not see themselves as Zionists, who are largely proponents of a SECULAR state of Israel. Extreme right Jews want an Israel that is a religious Jewish state that adheres to Torah laws on every level.

Zionism -- committed to the return of Jews to the Land of Israel -- was a philosophy that envisioned an atheistic, socialist pioneering society that would build a thriving country out of desert scrabble. And its only been in the last 30 or so years that there has been a movement of "Zionist Religious Jews" -- committed to an Israel where both religious and non-religious coexist.

It's a tough internal struggle that echoes throughout the diaspora with hostilies between religious and non-religious Jews, who square off on values, morality, philosophy and the issue of assimilation. Ultimately, it reflects in how we align politically.

In the middle of this is the largest component of Jews -- the secular and assimilated Jews who vote with the party they identify as the party reflecting their value system of philanthropy, social welfare / community and liberalism -- the Democrats. They don't see that unchecked liberalism is a vast departure from the core values reflected in the Jewish Torah.

To add to all this is the trepidation non-religious Jews feel around being evangelized by both religious Christians and religious Jews. Us religious Jews want them to stay in the fold. Christians want them to praise the lord and be saved. What a dilemma. So they are repelled by anything that smacks of religiousity from both sides.

Orthodox Jews have a stronger faith and sense they are on a hard and unwavering religious path, and don't feel the same threat from Evangelicals. They understand the Christian right's love of Jews and Israel, and yes, we do know of the rapture theology. They view Evangelicals as Israel's best friend, and they are very comfortable with the bedrock philosophies of conservatism.

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