March 2008 Bulletin Message

For Your Consideration
Rabbi Mark Dov Shapiro

Back in January, a series of e-mails reported that Barak Obama had been educated in a fundamentalist Moslem setting and that Obama was therefore a dangerously flawed presidential candidate. Obama was not a “kosher” candidate for Jews.

Within a few days, the truth came out. The rumors about Obama’s childhood connections to the roots of terrorism were false. The school he attended as a child in Indonesia was a public school – not a Wahabi madrassa. Seven Jewish Democratic senators characterized the attacks on Obama as “scurrilous.” One newspaper referred to the slanders as an attempt to “swift boat” Obama.

Despite all this, one prominent pro-Israel Jewish leader maintained that, although he had no evidence confirming his suspicions about Obama, he still had reservations.

I am reminded of debates during the 1972 presidential race when some claimed Jews had to vote against George McGovern because, if nothing else, Richard Nixon was a more certain supporter of Israel. Of course, it turned out that, although Nixon believed in Israel, he also managed to do great damage to America.

I’m led to conclude that sometimes we Jews are too defensively Jewish when we look at the world around us.

This may surprise you since it is hard to imagine me ever saying that more Jewish awareness and involvement are not a good thing.

Sometimes, however, Jews do themselves a disservice by assuming too easily that the whole world is against us. It’s true we have enemies. Israel certainly has ferocious foes. But sometimes our hypersensitivity is unwarranted. It narrows us and reduces us. We see the world darkly and spin our wheels in fearful, unnecessary ways.

Is Barak Obama “infected” with Moslem fundamentalism? It’s an outrageous concern. When we spend our days searching for anti-Semites around every corner, we waste our time. Our pride as Jews ought to give us strength as well - strength to live positively in an open society.

Prior Bulletin Messages from the Rabbi are available on this site.