[Optimist]

I sent this article to my Rabbi (40-something and coming around). Here is his emailed reply:

Thanks for the article.... I may not be a conservative, but I'm no fan of the left,
as you are aware. Especially when it comes to Israel. They are detached from
reality. To give you a personal example: the {other} congregation {that I serve}
was asked to co-sponsor (and host at the synagogue) an event called Tapestry,
a story-telling presentation by two American women, one Jewish and one with
Lebanese Christian ancestry. We agreed, whereupon one of the co-sponsoring
organizations -- named Kansas Committee for a Just Peace in the Mideast --
asked whether they could distribute materials at the event.

I asked to meet with representatives and look over the materials. The two folks
who came to meet me (both ordinary midwesterners, one Jewish) were as nice
as could be. We talked for quite a while, and discovered our points of view
were widely divergent. (Surprise, surprise).

Then they handed me copies of three documents they wanted to distribute. The
first referred to suicide bombers as freedom fighters, the second equated the
occupation with the Holocaust, and the third called for the US to cut off all aid
to Israel.
AND THEY REALLY THOUGHT I MIGHT CONSIDER LETTING THEM
PUT THESE ON A TABLE AT THE ENTRANCE OF THE SYNAGOGUE!

They're just clueless. Even if I secretly agreed with any of those things (which of
course I don't) I'd be committing political suicide. But they were very nice. See
you next week.

We have a small congregation that hires this rabbi for alternate weekends. He also serves another similar congregation in another city on the alternating weekends. My wife and I are the lone conservative voices in a sea of life-long yellow-dog liberals. This rabbi undoubtedly feels tremendous leftist pressure and I like to think that I offer at least a little rightward force (and it is the joy of my Shabbat to "talk" politics with congregation members...at least until I begin shaking my head in frustration). But, the Rabbi strives to be well-read and open-minded, although it remains a constant battle to offset (redirect) the liberal (But they were very nice) part of him.