The Jewish Community Relations Council
is pleased to invite you to join
The Jewish Community Relations Council
us as we present the
is pleased to invite you to

join us as we present the

Political Football

Columnist explains how the Jewish vote
has become so divided.

to Drs. Lynda
and Conrad Giles

Yaffa Klugerman | Special to the Jewish News

I

t’s an old joke: two Jews, three
opinions. But in the current polit-
ical climate, radically different
opinions — and the effect this polar-
ization has on the American Jewish
community — is no joke at all.
That’s the intriguing topic that
Samuel G. Freedman, a religion col-
umnist for the New York Times and
a professor at Columbia University’s
Graduate School of Journalism,
will tackle when
he delivers the
Frankel Center
for Judaic Studies’
26th Belin Lecture
in American
Jewish Affairs at
the University of
Michigan. His lec-
Sam Freedman
ture, “Pigskin Isn’t
Kosher: American
Jewry as Political
Football,” will take place on Tuesday,
March 22, in Ann Arbor.
“I want to give people some histor-
ical perspective on what has turned
the Jewish American vote into this
perceived swing vote and made
Jewish issues into wedge issues in a
highly polarized political climate,”
Freedman said.
“What you see in the last two
presidential elections … and abso-
lutely during the six months or
so leading into the congressional
vote on the Iran deal, is a deepen-
ing of divides that were within the
American Jewish polity already. At
the same time, there’ s also a vast
difference of opinion between the
majority of Israelis and the majority
of American Jews. So there are really
two splits happening simultaneously.
“Additionally, you have people like
Ron Dermer, Ron Prosor, Sheldon
Adelson and Netanyahu himself,
individuals who provide the human
connective tissue between the right
wing of American Jewry and the
right wing of Israeli Jewry. And that’s
part of what has hastened this alli-
ance of an Israeli government with
one part of the American political
system.”
Freedman is the author of eight
acclaimed books that have focused
on varied topics, such as black

2016

Activist
2016 Award
Activist Award

civil rights, 20th-century politics
and American Jewish identity. His
newest is Dying Words: The AIDS
Reporting of Jeff Schmalz and How
It Transformed the New York Times,
which accompanies an audio docu-
mentary that he co-produced. Some
of his other books include Breaking
The Line: The Season in Black College
Football That Transformed the Game
and Changed the Course of Civil
Rights and Jew vs. Jew: The Struggle
for the Soul of American Jewry,
which won the National Jewish Book
Award for Non-Fiction.
Freedman was a staff reporter
and an award-winning education
columnist for the New York Times
before he began writing his current
column, “On Religion.” His articles
on American Jewish issues appeared
regularly in the Jerusalem Post.
His analysis of Jews as political
football raises a question: Isn’t it
good that the Jewish community is
such a powerful political force?
“The glass half-full version is
that it makes Jewish voters and
voices and concerns so important,”
Freedman agreed. “But the glass
half-empty view is that it leads to a
kind of a cynical pandering to get
Jewish votes. As a result, the middle
ground feels torn in a really pro-
found way between being supportive
of Israel’s elected government and
simultaneously having very liberal,
traditionally democratic decisions on
virtually every domestic issue.
“We see them being basically told,
align with people who are against
labor unions, align with people who
are against immigration reform,
align with people who are against
marriage equality … and do all that
for one reason, which is that the
Republican party will be the safe-
guard of Israel in a way that liberals
and Democrats won’t be. That cre-
ates an excruciating situation.”

*

The 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, lecture at Palmer
Commons, Forum Hall, 100 Washtenaw Ave.,
Ann Arbor, begins with a reception at 6:30 and
is free and open to the public.
Yaffa Klugerman is program associate at
the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at the
University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Marcy Feldman

Monday,
Wednesday,
June 8 PM
*UNEs
7 pm

Adat Shalom Synagogue

Adat
Shalom
Farmington
Hills Synagogue
Farmington
Hills
Dessert Reception

following the event

Dessert Reception following the event
Couvert:
Couvert:
$18 $18

Featured Speaker:
&EATURED 3PEAKER
Dr.
Mark Riley
S. Schlissel
Rochelle
President,
of Michigan
#OLUMNIST University
$ETROIT &REE
0RESS

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March 17 • 2016

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