SONS OF ABRAHAM AND THE PARTY OF ABRAHAM (LINCOLN) :

Jews and the GOP: Dalliance or Alliance? (Jeff Ballabon and Ron Coleman, June 2002, Jewish World Review)

Unfortunately, it is premature to assume that this flirtation is leading to a serious courtship. We say this not because the GOP lacks sincerity or passion; the depths of Republican commitment to Israel could not better be demonstrated than by the fact that Israel's best friends in the House and Senate are from states with virtually no Jewish electorate or influence. For at least two decades prior to September 11, 2001, it has been an axiom in Washington that the further to the right one goes in the Republican Party, be it in the Congress or in the Administration, the more rock-solid the support for Israel. Painfully, some of politics' most maligned Christian conservatives, in fact have been Israel's best friends, precisely because they support Israel out of high conviction, and not as a political calculation.

Depressingly, most American Jews still appear to believe in an image of Christian conservatives based on one of two stereotypes, and often (however inconsistently) both: One is the majoritarian oppressor of Old Europe, and the other the straw-man parodies of American conservative Protestantism served up by the popular culture. Neither stereotype has anything to do with the genuinely philosemitic community of politically active, patriotic, conservative Christians that comprise much of America. For many of our Christian neighbors, the only question about the Jews is why on earth we aren't more Jewish - for they see in the Nation of Israel the nation chosen by G-d to convey His message to all the world.

If only the Jews saw themselves that way. We have overwhelmingly replaced our proud tradition and profound worldview with faddish "isms". We have raised successive generations of American Jewish children to be ignorant and dismissive of our history and heritage. The resulting product is a Jewish community that rejects the most fundamental underpinnings of our religion and all but the most tepid degree of spiritual commitment outright.

The authors make an important point here, that Jews do not feel uncomfortable with the GOP because it is too Christian, rather they feel uncomfortable with themselves because they are no longer religiously Jewish. Judaism has been reduced to a matter of identity rather than a matter of belief.

But it would seem that if Judaism is to endure and if the Jews as a people are to endure that they will have to undergo a Great Awakening, which will involve returning to the core beliefs of the religion. Perhaps more importantly they need to start having children. Population trends suggest that Jewish birthrates are so low that Jews may cease to exist as a recognizable and measurable demographic group even in countries like America and Israel will eventually just be swamped by arabs.

Both of these, admittedly massive, changes would tend to make Jews far more conservative on social issues than they are now and would make for a more comfortable fit with the Republican Party.

Posted by Orrin Judd at June 11, 2002 6:43 PM