EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK

The Jewish Vote

I

magine receiving a letter from a friend who alleged that
is accentuated by more Jews having a keener interest this elec-
your involvement in a political decision was tantamount
tion season. We're donors, fund-raisers, volunteers and, I hope,
to selling out the Jewish people.
voters.
Strong stuff.
Only 1 percent of Americans are active in political
I got such a letter last week, moments before I shut my
parties or run for public office. So Jewish involvement
computer for Shabbat. The writer wrote that "you and your
politically increases Jewish influence. Notably, Jews
newspaper decided to side with the Arabs against your broth-
make up just 2 percent of the U.S population but vote
ers and sisters in Israel." In question was the Detroit Jewish
in far greater proportion than other ethnic groups.
News endorsement of Sen. John E Kerry for president over the
Make no mistake: Political involvement is "a Jewish thing."
incumbent George W. Bush, a decision based on the global
It recognizes and salutes this land of freedom and opportunity.
war on terror and selected domestic issues important to the
Such involvement is a hallmark of the democratic ideals we so
Jewish community.
cherish as Americans.
The premise of the letter is nonsense. Kerry
As a minority in a heavily Christian nation, Jews must stay
will still draw at least 70 percent of the Jewish
involved. Our layers of government are only as vibrant and
vote even though he's the favorite among
responsive as the public servants elected. Heed the message of
Arab American voters, who wishfully believe
Eric Adelman of the Jewish Community Council, Detroit
that he wont back Israel to the same extent as
Jewry's public affairs voice: "We must remain vigilant about
President Bush. Of course, Kerry also is
making our voice heard in the political world to ensure that
strong in his support of the Jewish state's
our rights are protected and our priorities not lost."
right to exist and defend itself against
Diverse as we are, Jews still have a political agenda, includ-
ROBERT A. Palestinian terror.
ing:
SKLAR
Hyperbole is one thing in this divisive pres-
• Religious issues, like church and state separation, autopsy
Editor
idential campaign. But I was
limits and kosher food fraud.
downright irked by the claim
• Senior citizen issues, because our community has
that in endorsing Kerry, we showed the same
a higher percentage of elderly than the population as a
naivete as the Eastern European Jews who blind-
whole.
ly complied with Nazi Germany's demands as
• Labor issues, like workplace discrimination
the winds of the Holocaust began to swirl. The
because of ethnicity or gender.
writer argued that we have an "inability to sepa-
• Human rights issues that embrace Jews in other
rate promises from deeds."
lands.
To intimate that the JN endorsement some-
• Educadori issues, from support for public educa-
how is contributing to conditions that could
tion to what to do about tuition vouchers.
breed another Holocaust is bunk.
Foremost is assuring a safe, secure, prosperous Israel
The letter writer is but one outspoken Jewish
— our beloved (and embattled) ancestral homeland.
voice this election year.
The November winner is likely to name Supreme
The JNhas been accused of being pro-Bush
Court
justices as well, keeping or tilting the court's
Rabbi Berkun
and pro-Kerry based on the number of ads and
current political bent.
letters we've run. I have no control over the
Rabbinic Roots
number of paid political ads placed, but I will say that our
advertising columns are open to the Bush and Kerry camps
The U.S. Constitution doesn't compel citizens to be involved
politically, or even to vote. We can ignore Election Day, if we
equally. Bush backers have just chosen to spend more money I
want, without losing the right to, challenge the records of elect-
went bad( to mid-July to count up the number of Bush and .
ed officials. But the representative democracy we live in sure
Kerry letters we've run and found, not surprisingly, that we've
works better when we're informed, engaged and open-minded
run 20 for each despite Jewish voting patterns skewed toward
the Democratic Party.
— and we vote.
Opening the Seminars for Adult Jewish Enrichment politi-
One reader canceled her subscription last week because we
cal forum at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloom-
accepted ads paid for by the Republican Party and its support-
field.last week, Rabbi Lauren Berkun of Congregation Shanrey
ers. She maintained that Bush's "so-called peace plan has been
totally ignored by him, no action, no follow-up."
Zedek underscored why a Jew can be a,model American citi-
zen. Look at the post-prophet -rabbinic era, she said.
"In fact," she said, "we feel Bush has hindered Israel's cause
and caused enlivening of anti-Semitism."
"According to the radical new theology of that era, human
beings, rabbis, will delve into the words of the Torah, will
We endorsed her candidate of choice, Kerry, but she can-
celed her subscription anyway because, through her lens of the
debate one another and will vote," she said. "And the majority
vote will be the Truth, the Torah, the Halachah, the Jewish
world, we've allowed ourselves to be used as a political tool by
Law."
Bush. Let me affirm that President Bush is a great friend of
Indeed, succeeding generations of Jews were born into what
Israel.. He's popular among Israelis, stands with Israel against
Rabbi Berkun called "a cultural legacy of democratic ideals and
the United Nations and European Union, and doesn't waver
in his belief that Palestinian terror-monger Yasser Arafat must
a culture of debate, diversity of views and open-mindedness."
Values embraced by the model American citizen, she said,
go to re-engage the peace process. No U.S. president has been
a better friend, says Detroit Jewry's patriarch, Max Fisher,
include those the talmudic rabbis have already taught us: to
whose word I deeply respect.
follow the law of the land, pay taxes, participate in civic de-
bate, vote, volunteer, and touch the vulnerable and ignorant.
If the JN is guilty of anything in the shadows of Nov. 2,
Involvement Matters
it's thought-provoking involvement in the U.S. electoral
The sharp split in the Jewish community over Bush and Kerry
process. ❑

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10/29
2004

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