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essay
My First CPAC
F
or years, Shabbos observance and
attending the Conservative
Political Action Conference
(CPAC) seemed mutually exclusive
because so much of what happens there
occurs on Friday evening and Saturday.
But this year, I discovered that special
accommodations were available with
Washington, D.C.-based Young Jewish
Conservatives (YJC). I, a co-president
of the Michigan Jewish Action Council,
was delighted to be
able to attend for the
first time.
The conference took
place in late February.
We were able to start
networking the evening
before CPAC and met
Rabbi Yaakov Menken,
Dorene Weisberg managing director of
another new organi-
zation, Coalition for
Jewish Values. Later
we would be spend-
ing much time together and with many
other Jews of every persuasion at the
YJC Shabbat event.
While exact figures were not avail-
able, CPAC attendance numbered some-
where between 10,000-14,000 people.
Conservative young people attended
in large numbers and were favored
with premium seating for the main
events and dedicated career training
workshops. Turning Point USA, Young
America’s Foundation (YAF) and other
groups were well represented and fea-
tured in some of CPAC’s panel discus-
sions.
YJC after Havdalah
The conference included many
well-known conservative speakers.
Thursday’s schedule concluded with
a casual meet-and-greet with Ben
Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew considered by
many to be the voice of the conservative
millennial movement.
A frequent “controversial” speaker
for YAF on campuses across the nation,
Shapiro is a lawyer, author and host of
“The Ben Shapiro Show,” the top conser-
vative podcast in the nation. The politi-
cal left smears Shapiro as a hater who
commits micro-aggressions and some-
times is successful at shutting down his
campus appearances. According to an
ADL study, Shapiro is the No. 1 target of
anti-Semitic attacks aimed at journal-
ists.
On Friday, prior to President Donald
Trump’s appearance, author, TV and
radio host Laura Ingraham gave one of
the most optimistic, upbeat speeches,
focusing on the young conservatives
among us. She read three very parti-
san media quotes about the president.
While most thought those quotes were
about Trump, they were actually smears
against Ronald Reagan!
She said: “Saturday Night Live mocked
Reagan. Celebrities said he hated gay
people. The intelligentsia opposed
Reagan’s tax cuts. They smeared good
and patriotic men, like attorney general
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Ed Meese … They ultimately derailed
Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork.
They said President Reagan was going
to blow up the world. They called him
“Ronny Ray Gun.” They had no-nukes
conferences … He was gonna start
World War III.”
Like Reagan, Trump is mocked,
ridiculed and pejoratively branded by
the media, academia and Hollywood.
Laura’s message was that the struggle
continues from generation to genera-
tion; and she enjoined, especially the
young people, with encouragement not
to be discouraged because “ours … is a
movement based on individual freedom
and liberty, given to us from on High,
not from the government, but from
God,” which stimulated enthusiastic
applause.
Ingraham and many others at CPAC
believe that with Trump’s presidential
win, we have a leader who says what
he thinks. And while his tweets could
sometimes use some editing, he is, in
fact, a fighter who believes in our coun-
try and has done a great deal in a short
time despite the constant barrage of
anti-Trump media. President Trump’s
accomplishments on the conservative
agenda were a message oft-repeated by
many of the conference’s speakers.
After President Trump spoke, we
attended our first pre-Shabbos event,
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lunch with YJC across from the con-
vention hall. However, we had already
observed a surprising number of Jews,
identifiable by kippot, swinging tzitzit or
flowing payot at the convention center.
Our Shabbat experience coincided
with many CPAC activities. Friday eve-
ning, while regular CPAC sessions were
finishing up, we had Shabbos candle-
lighting, followed by evening services
plus a traditional Shabbat kiddush and
dinner for 150 guests.
Saturday, YJC held services with a
kiddush lunch and an address by con-
servative talk show host Mark Levin.
We ended an inspiring Shabbat with
Minchah, Seudah Shlishit and Maariv
followed by Havdalah and group pic-
tures.
At CPAC, love of and support for
Israel were everywhere. While Jewish
progressive organizations are keen to
spread a false narrative about President
Trump as a hater and the cause of
increased anti-Semitic activity, his poli-
cies on Israel and Jerusalem show his
love and respect for our people and the
Jewish homeland as his just-concluded
meeting with Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu demonstrated.
It was a refreshing and invigorat-
ing experience to be surrounded by so
many people, especially young Jewish
adults, who share conservative values
and where all are welcomed and treated
honorably, with respect. •
Dorene Weisberg is co-president of the Michigan
Jewish Action Council (www.MJAC.us). She lives
in West Bloomfield.
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