SPECIAL COMMENTARY

Jewish Vote Up For Grabs

out his entire career; while former
Washington, D.C.
Sen. Bill Bradley, appearing at the
. 0 ver the next few weeks, pres-
Orthodox Union dinner here last
idential candidates will be
October, has been loudly pro-Israel as
setting their sights on states
well.
with large Jewish popula-
As for the GOP, Gov. George W.
tions.
Bush and Sen. John McCain both
On March 7, primaries will be held
have publicly expressed their strong
in California, Connecticut, Maryland,
support for Israel.
New York and Ohio. Thus,
American Jews can sur-
the period will highlight the
vey the candidates' records
role of the Jewish vote in the
and rhetorical nuances to
primaries as well as the
determine which individual
upcoming general election.
will be more reliably pro-
While Jews traditionally
Israel, but the threshold
vote Democratic in over-
issue is uncontested.
whelming numbers, it is
Consider another hot-
arguable that Campaign 2000
button issue that has dri-
— at least at the presidential
ven many Jews to vote for
level — may be a watershed
NATHAN J.
Democrats: keeping abor-
election for the American
DIAMANT
tion legal. This issue has
Jewish community. This is
Special to
largely been settled as
because the salient issues that
the Jewish News well. As much as some
have driven Jews into the
candidates and special-
Democratic camp are more
interest groups might like
quiescent than they have ever
to pretend otherwise, the U.S.
been.
Supreme Court took this issue off
Consider support for Israel,
the table when it reaffirmed the
arguably an issue that turns many
validity of Roe vs. Wade seven years
American Jews into single-issue voters;
ago. While it is true that the next
on this front we have an embarrass-.
president is likely to appoint two or
ment of riches. On the Democratic
three new justices to the Supreme
side, Vice President Al Gore has been
Court, American voters do not cast
a stalwart supporter of Israel through-
their vote for president based upon
who they think the candidate might
Nates'n J. Diamant is director of the
appoint to the Court at some time
political and legal affairs office of the
in the future.
Union of Orthodox Jewish Congrega-
With support for Israel and abor-
tions of America, based in Washington,
tion rights now essentially moot, some
D.C.

might suggest that church-state issues
will keep Jews pulling Democratic
levers in the polling booth. But this is
far from certain. Again, while polling
data still indicates that a majority of
American Jews prefers more separation
of religion and state rather than less,
rank-and-file support for the sort of
strict separationism minted in the
1950s is clearly waning; moreover, this
issue does not neatly divide the par-
ties.
While the debate over school
vouchers traditionally raises some
Jews' church-state concerns, they
also realize that the voucher debate
is more complex than that. First, the
growing appreciation for Jewish day
schools within the broader Jewish
community, as well as an apprecia-
tion of the resources these schools
need to operate, has tempered the
resistance to state assistance for
parochial schools.
Moreover, the fact that those dri-
ving the demand for vouchers are
inner-city families whose children are
trapped in dysfunctional schools,
appeals to Jews' traditional commit-
ment to helping those less fortunate.
It is this latter point that has
prompted Bradley to accept experi-
mentation with voucher plans, thus
imploding the traditional Republican-
Democrat divide on this issue.
Another potential church-state
divide that has been bridged is over
"charitable choice." Both Gore and
Bush have endorsed this policy,

which allows religiously affiliated
social-service providers to apply for
and receive government funding for
their programs. While many Jewish
organizations oppose charitable
choice, here, too, rank-and-file Jews
understand the critical role that reli-
giously affiliated charities play in
society (as they have seen in the fed-
eration network) and understand the
virtue of government empowering
those good works.
What all this suggests is that in
an unprecedented fashion, American
Jews are free to loosen their political
thinking, and ultimately their votes,
upon a wider array of issues and
concerns, from campaign-finance
reform and health care, to tax
reform, defense readiness and child-
care subsidies.
American Jews -- who in reality
reflect a diverse spectrum of political
inclinations, religiously inspired atti-
tudes and personal interests — will be
drawn into these more "mainstream"
aspects of the upcoming electoral
debates and be found on all sides of
these debates.
Election 2000 is American Jewry's
analog to the post-Cold War era: Uni-
fying threats have been defeated and
we are now free to search for and pro-
mote new and different priorities.
National, state and local candidates
who understand and address this new
reality will reap its benefits next
November. 111

views of people expressed democrati-
cally, and more time criticizing
authoritarianism. After all, does the
Jewish News editorial board not sup-
port diversity of opinion and view-
point? Or is it merely blowing smoke
by supporting authoritarianism in its
own insidious manner?
Jay It Shayevitz

and who had achieved a high level of
personal piety In the 17th century,
the saintly Rabbi Israel Baal Shem Toy
(literally, "Master of the Good
Name"), founder of the Chasidic
movement, transformed Jewry by dis-
seminating the teachings of Chasidut
to the masses, bringing new awareness
of godliness and divinity to the world.
In recent years, the quest for spiri-
tual knowledge has become increasing-
ly important to people of diverse
backgrounds. Consequently, the study
of Kabbala, which offers a glimpse
into the mysteries of life, has become
popular and widespread. Apparently,
Rabbi Wine has discerned that Kab-
bala, now a trendy topic, is likely to
draw a sizeable crowd to the Birming-
ham Temple, bastion of the movement
that removes God from the rubric of
Judaism.

The wayward philosophy he has
crafted, Secular Humanistic Judaism,
is a grave affront to the true intent of
Kabbala, which is predicated on the
oneness of God and His ongoing role
in creation. Those who are sincerely
interested in studying Kabbala will
benefit from seeking out a teacher
whose own beliefs and practices are
congruent with, and not antithetical
to, these teachings.
Nacha Sara Leaf

Oak Park

Humanism
And Kabbala?

It is ironic that Rabbi Sherwin T.
Wine, founder of Secular Humanistic
Judaism, has now established himself
as a lecturer on the subject of Kabbala.
As referenced in the Jewish News cal-
endar ("Education," Feb: 18), he

recently presented a lecture on the
topic of the Kabbala and Chasidism at
the Birmingham Temple.
Kabbala, the mystical tradition of
Judaism, is a body of esoteric knowl-
edge that has been handed down over
the ages from teacher to student; the
Hebrew term Kabbala means "to
receive." The Torah is comprised of
both revealed (exoteric) and hidden
(esoteric) aspects. Just as a hunian
being possesses both a body and a
soul, so, too, does the Torah possess a
body (its exoteric teachings) and a soul
(its esoteric teachings). Kabbala,
referred to as p'nimiyut haTorah ("the
inner dimension of Torah"), is the soul
of the Jewish tradition.
Throughout the centuries, the
learning of Kabbala was reserved for
those individuals who had mastered
the revealed aspects of Torah (nigleh)

Oak Park

Jewish Women
As Leaders

Jill Davidson Sklar does a good job of
describing the growing, but still

LETTERS on page 36

2/25

2000

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