With the midterm elections bearing down upon the country, Republicans suddenly can’t seem to stop talking about, admonishing, and even threatening Jews.
This places Jewish Republicans in a bind: Will they side with their party and its deep roster of candidates, who are trafficking in subtle and unsubtle forms of antisemitism? Or will they speak out against bigotry and adhere to a more traditional Jewish-American ethos of placing the safety of the entire community first and foremost?
Right now, it looks like they’re taking the low road of putting up with antisemitism out of partisan commitment, and neglecting to consider how dangerous of a wager they’re making. (MSNBC)
I am Jewish. Raised as a Reform Jew but worked my entire professional career as a Communal Worker within the Jewish communities of Pittsburgh, Columbus, Houston, Orange County, and Contra Costa County, encompassing not only Reform Jews but the gamut of beliefs from Reform to Ultra-Orthodox and Cultural Jews. I actually was taught history, via teachers and professors, but also by my family members and families of each city and county in which I worked. Jews not ‘placing the safety of the entire community first and foremost’, is nothing new, it is a sad old story, retold and retold. Be it the Jews of Berlin or Rome who thought their money was enough to keep them safe from the Fascists, be it the wealthy German Jews living in New York City who believed too many Jews from Eastern Europe would and could and should not become Americanized. Be it, in recent years, the Jews who somehow think that their financial status, will shelter them from the hatred toward the other Jews, as in not so wealthy.
As an American, who among other qualities was raised as Jewish, I am perplexed, not surprised, sadly, at how and why any Jewish person, with any bit of empathy, sincerity, and love for one another, would vote for a political party which no longer uses Dog Whistles to express, ANTI- SEMITISM!
