Posted on 11/27/2013 5:33:56 AM PST by SJackson
Years ago, on a perfect Hanukkah day, my brother and I were getting off the Coney Island bumper cars on the way to kosher country, when we heard "Dirty Jews!"
Before having a chance to react in anger or fear, two boys were running full speed away from us.
Knowing they were not running from a 7-year-old in a plaid shirt or his slow moving 11-year-old brother, I imagined that the hand of God had descended from the cyclone. But, spotting a speeding Judah Maccabee chasing down those thugs, to my amazement and some chagrin, the Maccabee was none other than my usually passive intellectual of a dad. He held the boys hard by the collars against the screaming protestations of their own bigger and way meaner looking dad, who was screaming "Let my boys go or else!"
My dad did not budge, finally releasing the two to cops who happened to be walking by.
I learned perseverance and Jewish pride at that moment, but confidence was the day’s greatest lesson. Not the confidence of physical strength, which my dad took no pride in, not confidence in the 1970s NYPD, which did not exist. It was the simple, undeniable yet taken for granted confidence of a proud Jew. We are your equals, we are here, we have a state of our own, so, in NYC parlance, F*** you.
Rewind to a Coney Island before the establishment of the State of Israel, and I’m sure a very different story would have been told: our own collars held by a timid father forcing an apology from his own sons. “We are so sorry for wearing our kippot on the bumper cars thank you for calling us dirty Jews please, feel free to do it again at the Ferris wheel”
Which brings us to the double knockout weekend.
Knockout #1 took place last Friday in Crown Heights, when a religious photo intern got knocked down. “A 100 lb little Jew” as Israel Blizovsky described himself, punched for the fun of it... Ha ha. City Government’s nonchalant response was pretty close to What’s the big deal, you Jews worry too much.
Knockout # 2 took place on the other side of the globe, in the Genteel city of Geneva, where diplomats, not thugs, knocked down Israel a peg or two while dismissing the Jewish State’s existential threat with the same What’s the big deal, you Jews worry too much.
Over thanksgiving and Christmas, let us hope that the nations of the world will continue to support the idea of an independent and secure Jewish nation, a nation that will sometimes be battered, sometimes bruised but with its own pride and the means to always get back up.
As we put our faith in these nations, especially our greatest friend the United States of America, we must remember the central lesson of Hanukkah; never rely on others or on miracles, but when our very existence is in the balance, we must be prepared to fight a lonely battle to victory.
I was under the impression that the Roman Catholic vote nationally, although once predominantly Democrat, has broken about evenly between the two major parties in national elections in the last few decades.
From this Jewish Republican perspective, I can only hope that we can someday achieve that kind of success.
Aside from the Marxist Roman Catholics in politics you mentioned, there quite a number prominent conservative Roman Catholic politicians as well.
Point taken.
Of course, now my faith has a Pope who believes in 'Social Justice' (to put it mildly) so we'll have to see where that goes with the American flock. Needless to say, I totally reject his latest statements.
Hanuka is about fighting the Hellenization of Judaism. The Hellenized Jews who vote Dem are the ones the Maccabees would have gone after. It’s a different country and a different time, so we have to just outlast them instead of slaughter them. But Yehuda is right. Even in New York, the Jewish vote is not outcome-determinative of the electoral college tally. At most, there are some very talented Jews who spend their time and energy boosting Dems and convincing large blocks of Christian voters to go for them. But we have no way to reign them in, and conservative Jews are people with real jobs and lives, not campaign hounds, and who don’t have time to do much more than post on Freep.
You forgot about Russian Jews, the most conservative group. Most are not particularly religious, but they hate communists.
Nationally, the Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Judaism are essential the Democrat and Green Party at prayer. I say this is a disgusted ex-Reform Jew, who believes that the left wing cult that runs Reform Judaism is a betrayal of its purpose.
Thank you so much, dearest Yehuda! I agree with you 100 percent. As you know, your RC FRiend gets almost as tired as you, hearing about the JINO vote and I don't see you on threads wringing your hands over the much, much larger CINO vote.
BTW, Just look at inclusiveness in the good Rabbi's message I've cut and pasted below.
Over thanksgiving and Christmas, let us hope that the nations of the world will continue to support the idea of an independent and secure Jewish nation, a nation that will sometimes be battered, sometimes bruised but with its own pride and the means to always get back up. ~ Rabbi Reuven Kahane
God (G-d) bless and keep you and ISRAEL.
I do not think so.
A LESS assimilated Jew, who KNOWS he/she is a Jew AND knows Torah AND may even know some Hebrew, will VOTE REPUBLICAN.
The MORE assimilated (the majority of America's) Jews, the more ignorance and a tendency to vote with parties or individuals who harm Jewish interests.
The MORE assimilated (the majority of America's) Jews, the more ignorance and a tendency to vote with parties or individuals who harm Jewish interests.
Agree with you in general. I'd venture a guess that the single factor which most correlates with the way an American Jew will vote is whether or not that individual has visited Israel. As you might know, American Jews in Israel are reputed to have voted over 80% for Romney vs. Obama. Republicans Abroad in Israel have a dynamic organization.
Are Jews really moving away from the Rats? I do not think so.
In the 2012 presidential election, the GOP share of the Jewish presidential vote was reported, even by leftist massaged polling data, to have increased perhaps ten percentage points over 2008, with Zero experiencing a similar decline.
In the long term, some here have projected that Orthodox Jews - due to their much higher birth rate and the loss of Jewish identity among other Jews - will represent a larger proportion of the American Jewish community, and therefore the Jewish vote as a whole will move in a direction away from the 'Rats.
I think you’re looking very far into the future. If/when the Jewish Orthodox are the majority of Jews in America, we are talking about MAJOR transformation that will take another 50 years. By then, will Israel be around to visit?
I’ve heard that less than 25% of American Jews have ever visited Israel but those that do visit once do it again, many times over.
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