HYPOCRITES FOR OBAMA

[AGAINST SOCIALISM]

"Rabbis for Obama" Blur Church and State Unreasonably
Tuesday Aug 28, 2012
The Jerusalem Post

There they go again. Over 600 liberal American rabbis have ignored
their usual concerns about religion invading politics, climbed the
wall separating church and state, disregarded the feelings of
conservative congregants, and joined “Rabbis for Obama.” As I said
when criticizing the original initiative four years ago, I do not
object to individual rabbis joining “Jewish Americans for Obama” and
expressing themselves as Jews and Americans. However, by building this
organization around their job titles, they seek to apply their
spiritual authority in an inappropriately secular and partisan way.
What’s next: Ministers for Microsoft to counter Apple’s disciples, or
Priests for Pilates to bless one particular form of exercise? Just as
the Hatch Act barred federal civil servants from campaigning, just as
reporters – not columnists – are discouraged from partisan
politicking, just as I as a professor would never endorse one slate of
student politicians, rabbis as rabbis should refrain from crass
electoral politics -- and yes, I especially wish such professional
restraint constrained the Israeli rabbinate too.

Whereas courage involves risk, these hypocrites-for-Obama took an easy
position. A liberal American Jewish rabbi needs little nerve to
endorse a liberal Democratic president against a budget-busting,
conservative Republican. Liberalism remains American Jewry’s dominant
theology, with the Democratic Party the most popular affiliation even
as more Jews label themselves religiously “unaffiliated.”
Increasingly, the American Jewish community is filled with
evangeliberals – liberals with evangelical zeal. And despite Israel’s
general popularity among American Jews, most are more passionately pro-
choice than pro-Israel.

Therefore, it is annoying that these rabbis choose this cause as the
reason for overriding their usual desire to separate politics and
religion – while still condemning evangelical ministers or ultra-
orthodox rabbis who politick, of course. Instead, we need these rabbis
to make other, harder, principled stands collectively. Those rabbis
should do their jobs by confronting their congregants' sacred cows
more directly. How about rabbis for more ethical business practices?
Or rabbis for less materialism? Rabbis for cheaper, less luxurious,
more meaningful, bar mitzvahs? Or rabbis for less libertinism? Rabbis
for less careerism? Rabbis against family breakup? Or rabbis against
excessive reliance on electronics? Rabbis for less toxic gossip,
exhibitionism and voyeurism on the Internet? Rabbis for a community
which judges people on the depth of their souls or the quality of
their mitzvoth not their net worth or charitable giving? Or let's get
bold. How about rabbis for God? Rabbis for Halacha, Jewish law? Rabbis
for Shabbat observance? Rabbis for more Jewish learning? Rabbis for
musar -- moral living?
But no, better to grandstand, better to play politics with the big
shots than to risk roiling American Jews' famous complacency.

Unfortunately, we see a similar dynamic with much rabbinic intrusion
in the Arab-Israeli conflict. All those American rabbis rushing to
join the J Street rabbinic cabinet, all those rabbinical students
moralizing about Israel's West Bank and Gaza sins, should scrutinize
their own society, their own neighborhoods. To reach the
Reconstructionist Rabbinical College from the Philadelphia airport, I
drive through miles of urban moonscape, home to tens of thousands of
broken lives finding refuge in cheap liquor stores, whittling away
endless hours on park benches, before reaching suburban Wyncotte. As a
native New Yorker, I notice it less when I visit the conservative
Jewish Theological Seminary just below Harlem, but it does seem so
much easier to preach about how others should solve intractable inter-
group problems without tackling those closer to home.

Moreover, in our era of gotcha politics, it would be naïve for the
Rabbis for Obama to expect to be so hallowed that Republicans would
ignore an anti-Israel critic who advocates boycotting the Jewish state
on their membership list. One of this political season’s buzz words
is “optics” – obsessing about how things look -- and it counts for
rabbis too. Politicians are often held responsible for their allies,
with the test coming from the ugliest and most controversial
associations not the many safe and obvious relationships.

Of course, that does not make every Rabbi for Obama “anti-Israel” as
critics charge. Sloppiness is not collaboration. Still, as a
professor, I try to avoid signing petitions with those who policies I
abhor, be they from the left or the right. Rabbis for and against
Obama should beware unwelcome bedfellows too.

This harsh approach some rabbis and rabbinical students take toward
Israel has become such an emotional issue for three reasons. First, is
what I call the IAF – just as the Israeli Air Force soars high
gracefully, the Israel Agitation Factor escalates tension
unreasonably. The Israel-Palestinian conflict is a modern flashpoint
that magically escalates discussions into shouting matches, especially
among Jews. And in an age of delegitimization, when Iran can host
dozens of nations at a non-aligned conference this week while
advocating Israel’s destruction, when criticism of Israel often
degenerates into demonization, internal Jewish criticism stings
intensely – and frequently legitimizes the delegitmizers. Finally,
Israel remains the largest, most ambitious, collective Jewish project
of the modern age. The most extreme liberal rabbis are turning into
nouveau Haredim, aping the ultra-Orthodox anti-Zionism of yesterday
and today.

This is not to say that Israel should be beyond criticism from Jews or
rabbis. But assessing the optics, sensitive to the fragility of the
situation, acknowledging the conflict’s complexity, anticipating how
criticisms will be perceived, would calm debates not inflame them.

The backlash against Rabbis for Obama should be instructive. I hope it
does not lead to Rabbis for Romney. I hope it does lead to rabbis,
especially during their High Holiday sermons, building on positive
visions and serious challenges, pushing their congregants spiritually,
morally, religiously, rather than pandering to partisan sensibilities,
no matter how compelling the heated presidential campaign might be.

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University and a Shalom
Hartman Engaging Israel Research Fellow in Jerusalem. The author of
“Why I Am A Zionist: Israel, Jewish Identity and the Challenges of
Today,” his next book, “Moynihan’s Moment: America’s Fight against
Zionism as Racism” will be published by Oxford University Press this
fall.

http://www.truthandgrace.com/obama.htm