My fellow American Jews,

I am a member of Rabbis for Obama, along with 550 colleagues from all movements of Judaism. In this sacred season of repentance, I would like to share my reflections on some powerful messages from our tradition and their implications for the fateful choices we face.

Arise from your slumber and rouse yourselves from your lethargy..." (Maimonides)

In hearing the blast of the Shofar, we have an opportunity to wake up to the grave challenges our nation faces, and to forge a path based on our Jewish values of tzedek (justice), hesed (loving-kindness), and shalom (peace).

I believe that Senator Obama offers us a chance to build bridges across the divides of race, religion, class and country of origin. In this moment of economic turmoil and suffering, he calls on us to move beyond self-interest to extend opportunity across our society to "lift up the fallen" through lifelong education, accessible healthcare, and through involvement in community service. He urges us to reinforce the civil rights and liberties upon which our safety, and that of all of the vulnerable people in our society, depends.

I hope we will hear in the call of the Shofar an invitation to this path toward a repaired society and nation, as Senator Obama said in his historic Rosh Hashanah conference call with 900 Orthodox, Reform, Reconstructionist and Conservative rabbis, "[this is]... a time to recommit to the serious work of Tikkun Olam, of mending the world."

"For the sin we have committed...in impurity of lips" (Machzor).

Among the sins we will recount in our Yom Kippur confessional prayers is this one: "for the sin we have committed against you in impurity of lips (b'tumat sfataim)."

Far too often, I hear good Jewish people repeating slurs and calumnies without the slightest basis in truth. My 9 year-old son came home from his Jewish day school saying, "Barack Obama hates Israel." (The facts: Senator Obama's Senate voting record is rated 100% on Israel by AIPAC, and he has a long and deep partnership with the Jewish community. He has repeatedly stated that "Israel's security is sacrosanct," and that Iran must absolutely not be allowed to threaten Israel with nuclear weapons). I have heard older Jews say that they "know" that Senator Obama is a Muslim (There's nothing wrong with being a Muslim, but, for the record, Senator Obama is a committed Christian.)

Our tradition teaches us that lashon ha-ra, evil speech, kills three: the one who speaks, the one who listens, and the one about whom the untruths are told. We Jews of all people know the toxic effect of slurs based in racism, ignorance or xenophobia. As we turn in repentance, I hope we will start by refusing to listen to or repeating distorted claims about Senator Obama or any other candidate, and by asking people repeating them to refrain from this disgraceful behavior. No matter how insecure we feel, we must redouble our efforts to make critical decisions on facts, not fear.

"Hope in the Eternal, be strong and God will give your heart courage, hope in the Eternal" (Psalm 27).

The penitential Psalm, which we recite each time we pray during these days of repentance, calls us to ground our existence in hope. In this uncertain time, it is easy to succumb to fear, and to narrow our vision, or even to abandon our most fundamental values.

I hope you will heed Senator Obama's call, not only to hope for, but to realize, the hope for a society of liberty, opportunity, mutual responsibility and justice. With hope grounded in faith, and with a leader of vision and substance, wisdom and humility, our country can live up to its shining promise.

G'mar hatimah tovah, may we all be inscribed a year of sustenance, goodness and peace.

Rabbi Dayle A. Friedman
Vice-Chair, Rabbis for Obama

You'd be hard pressed to find a decent amount of medicare-qualifying folks who know what a blog is... But a vlog?  Now, that's pushing it.  Nevertheless, old school Jewish comedian Jackie Mason has tapped into the new-fangled youngsters' technology like few of his peers.  But don't let him fool you.  When it comes to politics, the generation gap is clear.  Jewcy recently featured a video and a follow-up of Sarah Silverman's, "The Great Shlep."  While it surely produced many Yiddish-intoned guffaws over Rosh Hashanah dinner, it has also sparked a backlash from the aforementioned grandpa of Jewish comedy.  Mason's take: Sarah's got some chutzpah telling you how to vote.  She's a sick yenta! (His words...)  We'll let him tell you directly, and see what you think, since you're the boss of your ballot.

Just to give a clear picture of Mason's record on political commentary, have a look at this previous vlog entry of his, and then ask yourself what gap he's closing.

The United States officially separates church and state, something for which everyone, from Jewish storeowners opening shop on Sunday to kids not saying other religions’ prayers in school, is grateful. 

But a recent court case in Nashville, TN makes me wonder if people are forgetting the importance of these separations.

Some background, as explained by the Nashville Jewish Observer:

Metro Nashville’s Charter requires that runoff citywide elections (necessary if any one Mayoral candidate does not receive greater than 50% of the electoral vote) be held on the second Thursday in September, which this year falls on Rosh Hashanah.

Enter Elinor Gregor, who files a federal law suit challenging the actions of the government. She claims that

The scheduling of the election deprives observant Jews of their rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, and the Fourteenth Amendment right to Equal Protection of the Laws.

Her lawyer, George Barrett, explains:

“Ms. Gregor will be required to vote, if she can vote at all, on a date earlier than election day. So election day will be available to all other, non-Jewish voters, but not to Jewish voters. That deprives her—and all other Jewish voters—of the equal protection of our voting laws. It takes away from Jewish voters an opportunity to vote that everyone else has.”

Am I missing something here? Didn’t he just say that Jewish voters will still have the right to vote early? Has he never heard of absentee ballots? Should all the soldiers currently overseas file similar suits because they don’t have the same chance to vote as other Nashville residents, thus violating their First Amendment rights? Nonetheless, despite what seem to be obvious flaws in this case, there’s been public support from both the Jewish and non-Jewish communities on this.

But here’s the thing—of the greater than 1.4 million Metro Nashville residents, fewer than 15,000 are JewishAt a Crossroads: The separation of church and state may be at risk.  While it’s tempting to challenge such perceived affronts to our community, it’s a slippery slope we’re standing on here. 

In the Diaspora, Jews are a minority. If we expect our faith to be given pre-eminence in government decisions, it’s only a matter of time before we see other religious groups imposing spiritual demands on the public. Do we want to see a return of the blue laws, or worse yet, blue, green, red and yellow laws, a different set to please each religious group in the country? Now, I’m all for people going to shul on Rosh Hashanah, but come on guys, figure out a way to get everything done without a government injunction. Keep your religious beliefs in the private realm, if you want to maintain the freedom to worship as you alone choose.

Just as a closing note, the government completely disagrees with me….

According to an article in the Jerusalem Post today, Rudy Guiliani has campaign organizations set up not just in all 50 US states, but also in the State of Israel.

The thousands of eligible absentee voters in Israel could have a significant impact on who will win the Republican and Democratic nominations. Giuliani is running first in a close Republican race.

And,

Schorer does have a problem, however, with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's perceived hints in media interviews that he supports Giuliani, with whom he forged a close friendship when he was mayor of Jerusalem and Giuliani was mayor of New York.

"It is highly appropriate for Americans in Israel to be involved in American politics but it is highly inappropriate for the Israeli government to express a preference for one personality or another who could lead the American people," Schorer said. "It's their job to work with whoever Americans choose to lead America."

If you've ever seen the 2005 documentary Protocols of Zion, which documents the rise of anti-Semitism in the US after the 9/11 attacks, you'll likely remember the part where Marc Levin is walking up and down the street asking random people about Jews and anti-Semitism.

Okay, actually that's what he does for most of the documentary, but there's one part in particular that I love -- a young Middle Eastern guy is yelling about how all the Jews have taken over New York. Levin asks him what he means, and the guy responds, "Even the mayor of New York [at the time, Giuliani] is Jewish!" Levin tells the young pontificator that he's wrong. "Oh really?" he says, "Jew-liani? Jew-liani? That doesn't sound Jewish to you?"

I died laughing. The guy wasn't joking around. I'm sure this information about Giuliani's campaign organization in the State of Israel will add fuel to this guy's fire.