Jew Are You?

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Okay, I read the comments, and YES, lots of Jews vote for the destroyers of America.

I once knew a young woman who was part of the U.S. national rowing team. They were training out of one of Harvard’s boathouses, and the university arranged for her some work in the athletic department’s main office. She said that they also used to train at Wisconsin and the University of Washington. At the latter site, there was a river with a very strong current. She described it this way (for a traditional racing shell with eight rowers and a coxswain—her job): “If you row with two people, you go backward. If you row with four, you stand still. If you put all eight people to work, you actually move forward.” That description is perfect to explain Jewish life.

I do not pretend to know the beliefs, requirements, or demands of other religions. As they taught us in rowing at Harvard, “Keep your head in your own boat.” Judaism, I do know, is a 24/7 life. There was a story of a big rabbi who sat with the head of the Polish armed forces of yore. Both had large fur hats. The Polish general said that when he finishes his day’s work, he takes off his hat. The rabbi responded that he never finishes his job and he never takes off his big hat. Functional Judaism requires kosher food, Sabbath observance, prayers three times a day, daily Torah learning, and a community big enough to support schools, stores, and other institutions. Personally, I would love to live in a lighthouse: close the door and leave me to the waves. But in reality, one needs a synagogue and kosher food, so maybe an Airbnb lighthouse will have to suffice. The general rule of thumb is that the more one moves away from traditional Judaism, the greater the likelihood that his descendants will eventually not be Jewish according to Jewish law. Reform and Conservative Jews are marrying out of the faith at a 70 percent clip; how long before their grandkids simply are not Jews?

My mother had a very funny custom. We traveled a lot by car and spent many a night in a hotel near an interstate. There are two things you will find in any Holiday Inn room: a Gideon Bible and a telephone book. My mother used to take the latter and look for a local synagogue and Jews with names from the family like Bamberger, which was her maiden name. Why she thought that there would be a synagogue in Deadwood Gulch, South Dakota, or Ogallala, Nebraska, is beyond me, but this was the first thing that she did. My father once discovered family in North Carolina who originated from his mother’s hometown of Ottensoos, Germany. They were no longer Jewish. And that is the reality of Judaism, whether one likes it or not: if one generation decides to ditch kosher for the wonderful local cuisine, their children will jettison the Sabbath and their grandchildren will either be non-Jewish or will marry non-Jews. One of the advantages of Israel for Jews is that two completely irreligious Jews can meet and marry and produce Jewish offspring. The guy who goes to college in the U.S. will probably meet his future non-Jewish wife, and that will be it for a couple thousand years of Jewish life in his family.

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Recently, President Trump put out on Truth Social that he had declared a National Scallops Day. Now, scallops aren’t kosher, so this event would not seem to be very important. But I have cousins who own a fishing business, and scallops are one of their major products. I sent them the announcement, and I had to needle them that it was Donald Trump, whom they loathe, who recognized their efforts. I received a reply in which my cousin said that the president’s actions would benefit his business, but he then went on to describe the president as a narcissist who has disgraced the office of president. In writing back to him, I asked for five things that a President Kamala Harris would have done to make America better than it is today. I am still waiting for his answer.

I love these cousins just as I love every Jew, including those whose politics I find repulsive. I have similar feelings for all Americans, even the ones who don’t particularly like other Jews or me. Jews emancipated in Europe began the process of balancing Torah Judaism in relation to participation in the wider world. One extreme is rejectionist: we will live as Jews and remove ourselves from common society. The other extreme is also rejectionist: I want to be like everyone around me and reject any Jewish association. The famous physicist and Nobel laureate, Richard Feynman, insisted that he did not want to be described as a Jewish prize winner. Many Jews in the West, as Rush Limbaugh noted, define themselves first by their politics and social views, with Judaism coming in a distant last. The Jews for Palestine crowd are only the extreme version of the left-leaning, non-religious American Jewish camp. While religiously orthodox Jews break Republican at around 90 percent, non-religious Jews still vote heavily Democratic, even for Jew-haters like Mamdani.

If your most important issues are “justice for illegal aliens,” “Black Lives Matter,” and other lefty drivel, then your concern for Israel and Jewish well-being will be extremely low. People think that every Jew is super pro-Israel. That is simply not the reality, though that may have been true say 40 years ago. The rabbi from our Conservative synagogue sent us all home Saturday morning so as to witness Anwar Sadat arriving in Israel. If you ask a religious Jew if the safety and well-being of Israel is important, he’ll say yes. That is not “Israel First”; it is a reality that a country that has 8.5 million Jews is something important to a fellow Jew, but not in any way, shape, or form at the expense of the United States. The $3.5 billion in military aid to Israel is spent at 90 percent in the U.S., and the U.S. benefits from Israeli tech, combat experience, and brainpower. Nvidia is growing its presence in Israel, and that will only make it a stronger and more valuable U.S. company.

There seems to be no way to convince lefty Jews to vote for the candidate who is better for their personal safety and the success of the U.S. They believe in some type of “tikun olam,” which means improving the world but has been transmogrified into meaning supporting every liberal shibboleth, even when it brings danger and destruction on American Jews. So, please separate religious and non-religious Jews in your political comments. Religious Jews are big supporters of Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda of making America a better, more prosperous, and safer country. Less religious Jews have put other priorities first and insist on voting for people who are not only not big fans of Israel but are also in favor of groups and programs that hurt Americans, including Jews. Why would you want more illegal foreigners in your country, with associated crime and urban decline? Why would you support trans and blur the most basic concepts of humanity? Even if Mamdani promised to send every last Jew in New York to a concentration camp, the urban Jews would still vote for the Democrat over the Republican. Ask Cub fans why they support a team that lost for over 100 years. Not everything is logical. Again, if you row with just two oars, you will go backward. Judaism’s future requires participation. For many, that is too much. There are fewer Jews today than there were in 1939, while, for comparison, there are 14 million more Germans.

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