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September 16, 2009
I have seen Jewish friendships end after an argument over the best hallah. In Iraq, the last two remaining Jews were famous for not talking to each other.
So when Norman Podhoretz laments that a solid majority of Jews remain liberal, I sympathize, I really do. If two Jews can’t agree on a menu, why do 75 percent vote for the Democratic candidate year in and year out?
The aging lion of neoconservatism lays out the argument of his new book, Why Are Jews Liberals?, in an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal. Podhoretz wants to know why Jews voted for Obama over McCain by a “staggering” 57 points, when upwardly mobile religious and ethnic groups who once voted Democratic are now solidly Republican.
I don’t want to talk politics, not on the eve of Rosh Hashana. If you do, Commentary magazine, where Podhoretz was the longtime editor, has a series of responses from liberals and conservatives.
I do want to talk about authenticity.
In his Journal piece, Podhoretz is critical of the American-Jewish liberals who say their politics stem from Jewish teachings and values. He’s not alone: In his disapproving review of Podhoretz’ book for The New York Times, Leon Wieseltier suggests that rabbinic text is “useless…for establishing the liberalism or the conservatism of the Jewish tradition.”
But Podhoretz takes this idea in an intriguing direction. If the theory that Judaism equals liberalism were valid, he writes, then “the Orthodox would be the most liberal sector of the Jewish community. After all, it is they who are most familiar with the Jewish religious tradition and who shape their lives around its commandments.”
And yet, he points out, the Orthodox are the only Jewish group that tends to vote Republican, while they reject liberal positions that conflict with Jewish law. “[A]vowed secularists are not the only Jews who confuse Judaism with liberalism; so do many non-Orthodox Jews who practice this or that traditional observance,” writes Podhoretz.
Podhoretz here is talking not about politics, but authenticity. Because implicit in that argument is the notion that Orthodox Jews are the most authentic Jews, and thus their politics are the most “Jewish.” Or, the converse: Since non-Orthodox Jews tend to be less “familiar with the Jewish religious tradition,” their politics are less Jewish.
Wieseltier accuses Podhoretz of having “a voyeuristic admiration for the Orthodox.” But it is not so much voyeuristic as self-condemning. If someone believes that the Orthodox have the strongest claim on “Jewish” politics, it would follow that he believes they also have the most authentic claim to “Jewish” values when it comes to family, community, and education. And it would further follow that the “more” Orthodox you are, the stronger claim you have to Jewish authenticity.
And yet I doubt a famed public intellectual like Podhoretz is willing to embrace a fervently Orthodox lifestyle that, for example, eschews Western university education in favor of full-time Talmud Torah. Or that strictly defines gender roles. Or, in the case of some hasidic movements, is indifferent or opposed to the idea of a Jewish state.
As a Jewish pluralist, I accept these choices as Jewish. But I don’t accept them as the only Jewish choices there are. I understand why one set of rabbis considers homosexuality a sin, and another declares homosexuality a norm. I agree with only one of these positions, but I consider them both to be “Jewish.” Judaism is not a radio signal, growing fainter and weaker the farther you travel from the Orthodox core. It’s a range of voices, all broadcasting from the same source. What’s demanded is that you take your own voice seriously, whatever it may be, and act upon it for the good.
Jewish politics has never been defined or dictated by “familiarity” with the religious tradition, but is a combination of religious imperatives, historic upheavals, expedient self-interest, and external pressures and opportunities. Israel’s founding generation hardly “shaped their lives around the commandments,” but made perhaps the most valuable Jewish political decisions of the past century. The leaders of the Jewish labor movement may have “confused” Judaism with socialism, but did more than any rabbi, Orthodox or non-Orthodox, to lift their fellow Jews out of poverty into the middle class.
During the season of repentance, many like to cite Psalm 118:17: “Open the gates of righteousness for me.” Commenting on this verse, Midrash Rabba says, “In the next world, everyone will be asked, ‘What was your occupation? Your work in the world?’”
The midrash goes onto say, “If the person answers, ‘I fed the hungry,’ the angels will say back, ‘This is God’s gate; you feeder of the hungry, enter.’”
Those who gave water to the thirsty, clothed the naked, and performed acts of loving-kindness are also allowed to enter.
These are not political acts, but it often takes a political act to make sure they are done right. A majority of Jews currently think one political party is more likely to achieve these goals. Perhaps that makes them misguided, but it doesn’t make them less Jewish.
Andrew Silow-Carroll is Editor-in-Chief of the New Jersey Jewish News. Between columns you can read his writing at the JustASC blog.
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