JustASC

I’m collecting official Rosh Hashanah greetings from the campaigns and the administration, which make for an interesting compare and contrast. So far I’ve gotten the president’s message and Obama’s (I’ll post about McCain’s if and when he sends one).

Here’s the president’s:

I send greetings to those celebrating Rosh Hashanah.

On this occasion of spiritual reflection, people of the Jewish faith in our country and around the world recognize the blessings from the Almighty as they commemorate the anniversary of the creation of the world. During this holy time, men and women take time to remember the past, contemplate the sweetness of the new year, and look forward to a promising future.  This special occasion is also an opportunity to celebrate the history of the Jewish people and the values that bind us all together.

Laura and I send our best wishes for a meaningful Rosh Hashanah and L’shanah tovah.

Nice past, present, and future theme. The part about Jewish history is interesting and a little unexpected. Note in last line the word “meaningful” where the traditional Jewish greetings talk about “sweet” and “good”; it’s only in the past decade or so, I’d venture, that serious-minded Jews began using the world “meaningful” in this context, stressing the idea that R.H. is not just the Jews’ Jan. 1 but a period of reflection with spiritual work to be done. I bet someone in the White House speech-writing corps is part of one of DC’s more “serious” minyanim.

Finally, note Bush’s use of “Almighty.” In previous greetings to the Jews he has been more forthright in speaking about God than, for example, was Bill Clinton — reflecting Bush’s own religiosity, no doubt, and view of where God belongs in public discourse.

Contrast with Barack Obama, as we see here, in his official greeting: 

“As Jews around the world celebrate Rosh Hashanah, I want to send my best wishes for a happy, healthy, and sweet new year. This marks not just a time for rejoicing, but for reflecting on the hopes the new year brings, and on our responsibilities to see them fulfilled. As families come together to mark the High Holy Days, upholding a proud Jewish tradition, let us all rededicate ourselves to the task of repairing this world for our children and grandchildren, and to working to achieve peace and security for Israel. On behalf of all of the Obamas and Bidens, Shana Tovah.”

No God in these greetings, perhaps reflecting a Democratic Party that is a little more committed to the seoaration of church and state (or, a critic might say, less comfortable with talk of God). “Repairing this world” is a direct translation of tikkun olam, language that has been popularized by the Jewish left as a term for social action, and basically absorbed by the Reform and Conservative movements, and by unaffiliated Jews who want to put a Jewish marker on their politics or activism. These remarks would go down well in most Reform and Conservative synagogues, or at the annual meetings of most of the big Jewish defense and policy orgs.

Obama also references Israel, while Bush does not. Obama’s campaign knows he has work to do of his own in convincing the Jewish swing vote of his pro-Israel bona fides.

The “meaningful” aspect of Rosh Hashana is suggested here in the line about “responsibilities” – stressing the serious side of Rosh Hashana that goes along with the “sweet”and “happy” aspects.

The Wall Street Journal reports on the sale of Obama and McCain yarmulkes:

Mr. Tennenhaus has sold 269 in support of Sen. McCain — including five dozen to his campaign — and 172 in favor of Sen. Obama. The figures are surprising, given that typically, Jewish-Americans have voted overwhelmingly Democratic in presidential elections. Sales of Mr. Perelman’s yarmulkes are more true to form, with Obama kippahs easily the top sellers.
 

Surprising, except when you factor in that the voters most likely even to wear yarmulkes — the Orthodox — have been skewing pro-McCain for months now (not to mention that McCain’s campaign bought 60 yarmulkes).

Our old friend, and NJJN alumnus, Rabbi Shammai Engelmayer is described as “not amused’ by political messages on kippot:

“It’s inappropriate,” said Rabbi Shammai Engelmayer of Temple Israel Community Center in Cliffside Park, N.J., president of the North Jersey Board of Rabbis. “Would anybody put ‘Vote for McCain’ or ‘Vote for Obama’ on a cross? Anybody who did that would be considered sacrilegious.”

I wonder how he feels about yarmulkes with Mets and Yankees insignia, smiley faces, and Nike swooshes, all of which can be seen in a typical synagogue.

Rabbi Stephen Stern of the Arden Heights Boulevard Jewish Center in Staten Island, N.Y., disagrees with him: 

“The yarmulke doesn’t have any holiness attached to it,” he said, unlike a prayer shawl that is blessed by a rabbi.
 

I just got a press release for an interfaith forum with a very alarming title:

Meeting the Needs of Crime in Essex County

IDC Luncheon Forum is hosting Ms. Paula T. Dow, Essex County Prosecutor. She will deliver a speech on “Meeting the needs of crime in Essex County”. Come and join this forum, ask questions and convey your messages.

Below and after the jump, my final, pre-pub thoughts on the Palin-Iran rally fiasco, because apparently not enough people have opined on this.

Rule One: Keep it nonpartisan

Sometime in the last century I was an intern at the Jewish Community Relations Council in Philadelphia, where my big claim to fame was helping stage an Israel Independence Day celebration.

It was a hugely educational experience. I learned to staff committees, negotiate with municipal officials, and placate angry vendors.

I also learned that I needed to become a journalist, so that never again would I have to staff committees, negotiate with municipal officials, and placate angry vendors.

I also learned Rule One of community relations work: Keep it nonpartisan. (more…)

Opposing views on the Palin-Iran rally fiasco.

First, The New York Post rips into the Democrats:

With one astonishingly clumsy public temper tantrum, Hillary Clinton and the Obama campaign have transformed what for decades has been a bipartisan policy – American support for Israel – into a political football.  

Meanwhile, at the HuffPost, Menachem Rozensaft says its the McCain campaign that’s exploiting the issue:

Let’s be perfectly clear. The organizers had initially invited Governor Palin without ever contacting, let alone inviting, anyone from the Obama campaign. When they finally issued a belated invitation to the Obama side, it was accepted, and a prominent Democratic Member of Congress was going to speak at the rally. The organizers then disinvited both Governor Palin and Representative Wexler. And whom does the GOP hold responsible for this fiasco? Barack Obama, of course.

My colleagues and I love Richard Schwartz, the president of Jewish Vegetarians of North America, who writes a column or letter to the editor each week and is never at a loss to attach his cause to the latest headline. Here’s his latest.

JEWISH GROUP CONGRATULATES TZIPI LIVNI, POTENTIALLY ISRAEL’S FIRST VEGETARIAN PRIME MINISTER

We congratulate vegetarian and animal-lover Tzipi Livni for winning the Kadima primary, which would make her Israel’s first vegetarian prime minister, if she is able to form a government..

We urge Ms. Livni, should she become prime minister, to make it a major priority of her administration to help increase awareness of the many reasons for considering a shift toward vegetarian (and preferably vegan) diets.

Next week: “When you’re fasting on Yom Kippur, try to not not eat meat.”

JTA has the he said/she said/they said/we all said on the decision by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations to disinvite Sarah Palin from their big anti-Iran rally

Lots of fingerpointing, and unanswered questions: Did Hillary Clinton politicize the event by backing out when she heard Palin would be speaking? Did the PresCon blow it by inviting someone from a party ticket at the height of the campaign? Did the National Jewish Democratic Coalition, in calling huffily for a nonpartisan event, do more to politicize the event than almost anyone else?  Is Matt Brooks of the Republican Jewish Coalition kidding when he says, “This is one of the biggest black marks on our community that I can remember in more than 20 years of working in the Jewish community”?

Why do I think this whole thing could have been avoided if someone at the PresCon had the following conversation:

A: Do you think we should invite someone from the campaigns to address the rally?

B: Do we really want this to be seen as campaign event? Won’t that turn the focus away from the bipartisan message? Won’t the candidates or surrogates be angling to prove who’s tougher on Iran and a better friend to the Jews? I can just see Hannity or Maddow discussing which side “won.” I’m also concerned, to tell the truth, that we unwittingly or not will be seen as buffing Gov. Palin’s foreign policy credentials. Is that distraction from the subject at hand — the threat of Iran — worth the intense coverage we’ll get out of this?

A: But Hillary is coming. Haven’t we essentially politicized the event? Shouldn’t we invite someone from the McCain camp as well?

B: She’s still a New York senator and has a record of standing with us.  But if we do want to make sure there is party balance, we can try to get someone with equal stature and standing on the other side, as opposed toone of the canidates themselves. Wouldn’t Joe Lieberman –pro-McCain, NY-Metro area — be perfect? How about Rudy Giuliani? Eric Cantor?

JTA has a breaking story:

Palin disinvited from Iran rally

Sarah Palin is being disinvited from the Jewish-sponsored anti-Iran rally, sources told JTA. The move follows two days of controversy for organizers of next Monday’s rally to protest Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the United Nations.

JTA’s link to the story is broken, but you can read the background here.

The Onion has fun with news that the Republican Jewish Coalition was doing an anti-Obama push-poll. Best line:

“I always forget: What are the two states that have Jews again?”

For non-fake background, see here.

Last month, The Jerusalem Post published a sobering story by its reporter Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, who paid a brief return visit to the United States 26 years after having immigrated to Israel. Fretted Judy:

“U.S. Jews have enjoyed a magnificent century of surging wealth, political and cultural influence, and primacy in scientific research, medicine, the media, and many other professional fields. But I fear they have passed their peak and entered an irreversible decline.”

I respond in my column this week:

What Siegel-Itzkovich and other pessimists miss is the sense of Jewish reinvention that is alive and well in Jewish life and the historical perspective that suggests Jews don’t “survive” as much as they adapt.

Read the whole thing here.