Some Jews have been on the liberal reservation so long that they openly celebrate people who punch them in the face — and expect the rest of us to do the same.
I know many people like those you have described in your wonderful piece. So many were worried about the Palestinians in Gaza instead of acknowledging that many Palestinians actually took part in the massacre and were complicit in holding the hostages in their homes. I still do not understand how they do not support Israel. A Jew is a Jew no matter what country they live in and we should be supporting each other because no one else will.
Excellent article and thank you for sharing this. I am a Montreal Jew so I did grow up in a predominantly central political environment. We have a large Sephardic community which has always leaned right and in total we are a very Zionist community. But Toronto is exactly like the Jewish communities that you are describing in the US. They have been leaning so leftwards that even after October the 7th, they are having difficulty standing straight. I have always been infuriated by these blind organizations purporting to represent their people. The ADL did it years ago, right after Greenblatt took over. They were fighting for everyone’s rights except their Jews. At least after October 7th they seemed to have learned something and are going back to their original mandate. Sadly there are those of us who are choosing to remain blind. As for Hollywood, what an absolute disgrace! I can count on one hand how many incredibly connected Jews in Hollywood spoke up, used their platform to support their brethren and stand tall. Many more non Jews spoke up than our own brothers. I salute the bravery and courage of all these people, but, where are the Jews?
I think that we should, collectively, stop using words like "liberal" and "conservative" to describe the left and right. I would argue that many ideas the left has are very illiberal, while many ideas on the right are not conservative. For example, the left is not interested in any viewpoint that doesn't confirm to their orthodoxy, while the right doesn't seem very into conversation of the environment. Jews sadly support the left because that's how they were raised, but it has been decades since the left suppoted Jews. In fact, the left is now quite antisemitic, often using the thin veil of anti-zionism for cover. When Jews finally let go of their fixation with voting Democrat, they are going to feel depressed that they didn't wake up a long time ago.
You are spot on, when 65% of American Jews vote for a party whose base wants to destroy Israel (and them) that begs the question, is it self hatred, ignorance, indoctrination or insanity?
When the media, Hollywood & politics & business showcases hideous individuals like Shiff, Shumer, Nadler, Soros, Epstein, Larry David, Rob Reiner, Larry Fink, Joy Behar, Marc Elias etc. is there any wonder why we are despised. Most Israeli Jews get it since they are living in reality. Had an Israeli girlfriend once who characterized American Jews as “ *Sabone” (she was with me because I wasn’t)
I share your feelings, Karol. But I am happy with the CEO of Montreal's Federation, a tough, realistic observant Jew who's been keeping the left-leaners at bay and doing as good a job as can be expected at securing our Jewish community. He shared with me some of the ways this is happening (beyond paying a fortune in legal fees to keep anti-Israel thugs away from Jewish neighborhoods, synagogues, schools and community centers.) I won't go into details since our enemies read this forum. But it might interest you to know these thugs include a group calling itself "Jewish Independent Voices". Some of their members were recently arrested, along with the non-Jewish thugs at a rally gone violent.
Thank you so much for writing this excellent piece- which NOBODY was talking about. It's made me absolutely sick to see the way liberal Jews have been behaving in America and elsewhere. I fervently wish that those mealy mouthed comfy politically correct Jews would experience one week of the bombs that I have - sitting in Israel. They disgust me with their pompous subservience to evil. They have forgotten the price that their ancestors paid to give them comfy lives...but we in Israel have not.
An excellent article, thank you! There are some of these very people you describe right here on Substack telling me that there is another side to this conflict (ie Israel and the Fakestinian Arabs) blah blah blah. Telling me that issues aren't always black and white. Simply plain and utter ignorance!!
On October 8, 2023, I posted on my Facebook page that anyone who tells me "it's complicated" can unfriend me. Unfortunately, I hear variations on that theme from Jewish friends; I have since distanced myself from them. It was lonely out there until I met Jews like everyone here.
Hear hear. I've never been a conservative, but it's beyond obvious what the left is now, and probably always have been. I'm glad Trump won--something I never thought I'd say, as recently as October 6, 2023.
Its a wonderful essay and I plan to share it with all I know especially those that are still left leaning. Hopefully, there might be a few left that are not so entrenched in their view that they are willing to listen to reason and change.
The biggest common denominator with most Jews who have not seen the light is that all their information comes from Mainstream Left Wing Media such as WaPo, Ny Times, CNN and the rest who have basically called Trump a fascist and that he will destroy America. They in unison will call Fox News fake news and yet they have never watched more than a soundbite from Fox. For them it would be blasphemy to watch Fox or subscribe to the Daily Wire etc.
Than the real blame goes to the large Jewish Organizations who are part of the Democratic swamp. They are cowardly and many of the leaders have affiliation with the Democratic party. It is shameful that not one leading organization gave an endorsement to Trump or even Harris, They stayed cowardly neutral cuz they didn't want to either upset their Democratic buddies or they were afraid of losing their donation money.
You article was spot on. We so much need to overhaul our leadership and we need to speak truth to power. The Democratic party is not the same party it used to be and it is not our ally anymore.
הפתגם הישן, "ישנם שני סוגים של יהודים – אלה המאמינים כי היהדות עוסקת בצדק חברתי ואלה היודעים עברית", משקף באופן מושלם את הסביבה הפוליטית הנוכחית
The old adage, “There are two types of Jews — those who believe that Judaism is about social justice and those who know Hebrew”, perfectly reflects the current political environment.
A vast majority of American Jews (the vast majority of which are secular) remain unimpressed. They are not motivated by concerns for Israel; they are not motivated by the interests of the United States and are eminently not practical about their own necessities. What they all passionately care about is social justice. Social justice, in terms of helping the sick and the poor, is deeply embedded in Judaism; for Jews, it is a case of irrational obsession. With the emergence of the industrial revolution and massive generation of wealth, Jews took up economic inequality and embraced ideas of socialism.
The Jewish love affair with socialism which began in Russia with the fanaticism of the grandparents has been transformed into the fear of the parents and subsequently into the conviction of the children and grandchildren; it is embedded deeply in the Jewish DNA.
Living in ghettos for two millennia, the Jewish people have been struggling to reconcile their tragic history with the logic of modern reality. They have a difficult time coming to terms with the freedom and equal opportunities that America offers. They continue to fight for social justice, refusing to recognize that, as far as Jews are concerned, what they have accomplished in this country goes well beyond their wildest expectations. Sons and daughters of the first immigrants, who dug trenches and washed dishes in New York, became doctors, lawyers, senators, bankers, and industrialists.
Unfortunately, the descendants of the first immigrants inherited the genetic memories of their ghetto ancestors. They feel guilty for achieving a standard of living as good as or better than any other ethnic group in this country. The guilt associated with their own success has led them to take on, and support, the cause of every underdog and liberal and socialist movement in sight, no matter how undeserving, no matter how irrational.
Although socialism brought terrible suffering to Jews, they would not abandon their devotion to the cause. As prominent Zionist Zev Jabotinsky once said, "logic is an art of the Greeks; a Jew has his own logic. Jewish logic is the logic of catastrophe. Jews do not detect danger; they face it when it comes."
But history punishes willful blindness, and catastrophes keep reappearing.
In many ways, the 1917 socialist revolution in Russia was in fact a Jewish revolution. Jews founded and shaped the Soviet state. Yet these same Jewish Bolsheviks quickly became the first state's victims. Over the next 20-years, by 1937, practically all of them were executed or murdered abroad.
In the late 1920s, some German Jews VOTED for Hitler's National Socialist Party, only to become victims of the Holocaust a decade later. They chose to ignore Hitler's anti-Semitic rhetoric; he could not be bad, much less evil. After all, he was a socialist!
Jews passionately supported and continue to admire Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1939 denied entry for Jews seeking asylum from Nazi extermination and sent them back to the concentration camps. Nevertheless, Jews voted for FDR and still love him – after all, the New Deal was a giant step toward socialism.
In our own time, Jews continue to ignore the teachings of Karl Marx, their fellow member of the tribe, that socialism is about redistribution of wealth. The aim is to take it from the rich, even though there are many Jews among them. This is what Bernie Sanders's suicidal "Future to Believe In" is about.
What is really remarkable is that over the last century, no social macrocosm has more consistently voted against its own self-interest and survival. We may expose Jewish devotion to socialism and shame Jews for betraying their own interests; however, conviction is stronger than reason.
As the leadership of the Leftist Democratic Party (no longer liberal) dropped all pretenses and openly advocates socialism in this country, the heritable socialists impelled by conviction will ignore once again the political necessities and vote for the party that speaks their language.
Not so, Wolfgang. I don't speak a word of Hebrew, but I have listened to The Nazi-show here in Europe, and so now I know what Israel as National Movement of Self Defence is. So I and millions like me are now Zionists. Also, there is a strong social justice Peace movement in Hebrew-speaking Israel. Be careful what you wish for, Wolfgang. Nazism is about to swallow Germany whole, once again.
Yes ma’am. Right on the money. Jews ideologically aligned on the Left in 21st century America is a luxury belief system that is too stupid and unrealistic to survive. You can’t save everybody. Some people are self-destructive. But I’m not going down with that ship. If people have an emotional attachment to a political party or ideology that hates them, that’s a mental problem I can’t fix.
I’m not an observant Jew. But if I have to choose between saving a rabbi and saving a Communist/Progressive (another fake euphemism), it’s not really a question. Sorry, Trotsky, not sorry.
And yes, we have to build alliances with the people who support us. How obvious is that?
American Jewish organizations are simply not competent to deal with this moment. How do we fix this?
Thanks for writing this. It badly needed to be said.
I know many people like those you have described in your wonderful piece. So many were worried about the Palestinians in Gaza instead of acknowledging that many Palestinians actually took part in the massacre and were complicit in holding the hostages in their homes. I still do not understand how they do not support Israel. A Jew is a Jew no matter what country they live in and we should be supporting each other because no one else will.
Excellent article and thank you for sharing this. I am a Montreal Jew so I did grow up in a predominantly central political environment. We have a large Sephardic community which has always leaned right and in total we are a very Zionist community. But Toronto is exactly like the Jewish communities that you are describing in the US. They have been leaning so leftwards that even after October the 7th, they are having difficulty standing straight. I have always been infuriated by these blind organizations purporting to represent their people. The ADL did it years ago, right after Greenblatt took over. They were fighting for everyone’s rights except their Jews. At least after October 7th they seemed to have learned something and are going back to their original mandate. Sadly there are those of us who are choosing to remain blind. As for Hollywood, what an absolute disgrace! I can count on one hand how many incredibly connected Jews in Hollywood spoke up, used their platform to support their brethren and stand tall. Many more non Jews spoke up than our own brothers. I salute the bravery and courage of all these people, but, where are the Jews?
I think that we should, collectively, stop using words like "liberal" and "conservative" to describe the left and right. I would argue that many ideas the left has are very illiberal, while many ideas on the right are not conservative. For example, the left is not interested in any viewpoint that doesn't confirm to their orthodoxy, while the right doesn't seem very into conversation of the environment. Jews sadly support the left because that's how they were raised, but it has been decades since the left suppoted Jews. In fact, the left is now quite antisemitic, often using the thin veil of anti-zionism for cover. When Jews finally let go of their fixation with voting Democrat, they are going to feel depressed that they didn't wake up a long time ago.
There is nothing liberal about the left. It is radical and illiberal and the Democratic party has gone along with it.
I use “progressive” for the crazy left. Democrats were always liberal but a strange fringe has developed. Not so much of a fringe lately.
You are spot on, when 65% of American Jews vote for a party whose base wants to destroy Israel (and them) that begs the question, is it self hatred, ignorance, indoctrination or insanity?
When the media, Hollywood & politics & business showcases hideous individuals like Shiff, Shumer, Nadler, Soros, Epstein, Larry David, Rob Reiner, Larry Fink, Joy Behar, Marc Elias etc. is there any wonder why we are despised. Most Israeli Jews get it since they are living in reality. Had an Israeli girlfriend once who characterized American Jews as “ *Sabone” (she was with me because I wasn’t)
*soap
What's wrong with Larry David?
I am not Jewish but I will always be a friend to you. I agree with you! I have found this quite extraordinary. I’m glad you have raised this!
I share your feelings, Karol. But I am happy with the CEO of Montreal's Federation, a tough, realistic observant Jew who's been keeping the left-leaners at bay and doing as good a job as can be expected at securing our Jewish community. He shared with me some of the ways this is happening (beyond paying a fortune in legal fees to keep anti-Israel thugs away from Jewish neighborhoods, synagogues, schools and community centers.) I won't go into details since our enemies read this forum. But it might interest you to know these thugs include a group calling itself "Jewish Independent Voices". Some of their members were recently arrested, along with the non-Jewish thugs at a rally gone violent.
It’s very discouraging the way things are going in Canada. Did you see Terry Glaven’s article at the Free Press?
No I haven't.
Thank you so much for writing this excellent piece- which NOBODY was talking about. It's made me absolutely sick to see the way liberal Jews have been behaving in America and elsewhere. I fervently wish that those mealy mouthed comfy politically correct Jews would experience one week of the bombs that I have - sitting in Israel. They disgust me with their pompous subservience to evil. They have forgotten the price that their ancestors paid to give them comfy lives...but we in Israel have not.
An excellent article, thank you! There are some of these very people you describe right here on Substack telling me that there is another side to this conflict (ie Israel and the Fakestinian Arabs) blah blah blah. Telling me that issues aren't always black and white. Simply plain and utter ignorance!!
On October 8, 2023, I posted on my Facebook page that anyone who tells me "it's complicated" can unfriend me. Unfortunately, I hear variations on that theme from Jewish friends; I have since distanced myself from them. It was lonely out there until I met Jews like everyone here.
Nice to mert you, Joanne k
Hear hear. I've never been a conservative, but it's beyond obvious what the left is now, and probably always have been. I'm glad Trump won--something I never thought I'd say, as recently as October 6, 2023.
Me, too.
Every word of this is true.
Its a wonderful essay and I plan to share it with all I know especially those that are still left leaning. Hopefully, there might be a few left that are not so entrenched in their view that they are willing to listen to reason and change.
The biggest common denominator with most Jews who have not seen the light is that all their information comes from Mainstream Left Wing Media such as WaPo, Ny Times, CNN and the rest who have basically called Trump a fascist and that he will destroy America. They in unison will call Fox News fake news and yet they have never watched more than a soundbite from Fox. For them it would be blasphemy to watch Fox or subscribe to the Daily Wire etc.
Than the real blame goes to the large Jewish Organizations who are part of the Democratic swamp. They are cowardly and many of the leaders have affiliation with the Democratic party. It is shameful that not one leading organization gave an endorsement to Trump or even Harris, They stayed cowardly neutral cuz they didn't want to either upset their Democratic buddies or they were afraid of losing their donation money.
You article was spot on. We so much need to overhaul our leadership and we need to speak truth to power. The Democratic party is not the same party it used to be and it is not our ally anymore.
papa j
a very honest and powerful piece! in my introduction to judaism class last semester I had only 7 students (normally it was 25) and only 3 of
them were Jewish. Guess what, it was a good reason to cancel it for the coming semesters and let me go.
Sorry to hear that
Well, a sign of the times, unfortunately. Hope it won’t remain permanent.
Ugh, awful.
הפתגם הישן, "ישנם שני סוגים של יהודים – אלה המאמינים כי היהדות עוסקת בצדק חברתי ואלה היודעים עברית", משקף באופן מושלם את הסביבה הפוליטית הנוכחית
The old adage, “There are two types of Jews — those who believe that Judaism is about social justice and those who know Hebrew”, perfectly reflects the current political environment.
A vast majority of American Jews (the vast majority of which are secular) remain unimpressed. They are not motivated by concerns for Israel; they are not motivated by the interests of the United States and are eminently not practical about their own necessities. What they all passionately care about is social justice. Social justice, in terms of helping the sick and the poor, is deeply embedded in Judaism; for Jews, it is a case of irrational obsession. With the emergence of the industrial revolution and massive generation of wealth, Jews took up economic inequality and embraced ideas of socialism.
The Jewish love affair with socialism which began in Russia with the fanaticism of the grandparents has been transformed into the fear of the parents and subsequently into the conviction of the children and grandchildren; it is embedded deeply in the Jewish DNA.
Living in ghettos for two millennia, the Jewish people have been struggling to reconcile their tragic history with the logic of modern reality. They have a difficult time coming to terms with the freedom and equal opportunities that America offers. They continue to fight for social justice, refusing to recognize that, as far as Jews are concerned, what they have accomplished in this country goes well beyond their wildest expectations. Sons and daughters of the first immigrants, who dug trenches and washed dishes in New York, became doctors, lawyers, senators, bankers, and industrialists.
Unfortunately, the descendants of the first immigrants inherited the genetic memories of their ghetto ancestors. They feel guilty for achieving a standard of living as good as or better than any other ethnic group in this country. The guilt associated with their own success has led them to take on, and support, the cause of every underdog and liberal and socialist movement in sight, no matter how undeserving, no matter how irrational.
Although socialism brought terrible suffering to Jews, they would not abandon their devotion to the cause. As prominent Zionist Zev Jabotinsky once said, "logic is an art of the Greeks; a Jew has his own logic. Jewish logic is the logic of catastrophe. Jews do not detect danger; they face it when it comes."
But history punishes willful blindness, and catastrophes keep reappearing.
In many ways, the 1917 socialist revolution in Russia was in fact a Jewish revolution. Jews founded and shaped the Soviet state. Yet these same Jewish Bolsheviks quickly became the first state's victims. Over the next 20-years, by 1937, practically all of them were executed or murdered abroad.
In the late 1920s, some German Jews VOTED for Hitler's National Socialist Party, only to become victims of the Holocaust a decade later. They chose to ignore Hitler's anti-Semitic rhetoric; he could not be bad, much less evil. After all, he was a socialist!
Jews passionately supported and continue to admire Franklin D. Roosevelt, who in 1939 denied entry for Jews seeking asylum from Nazi extermination and sent them back to the concentration camps. Nevertheless, Jews voted for FDR and still love him – after all, the New Deal was a giant step toward socialism.
In our own time, Jews continue to ignore the teachings of Karl Marx, their fellow member of the tribe, that socialism is about redistribution of wealth. The aim is to take it from the rich, even though there are many Jews among them. This is what Bernie Sanders's suicidal "Future to Believe In" is about.
What is really remarkable is that over the last century, no social macrocosm has more consistently voted against its own self-interest and survival. We may expose Jewish devotion to socialism and shame Jews for betraying their own interests; however, conviction is stronger than reason.
As the leadership of the Leftist Democratic Party (no longer liberal) dropped all pretenses and openly advocates socialism in this country, the heritable socialists impelled by conviction will ignore once again the political necessities and vote for the party that speaks their language.
Not so, Wolfgang. I don't speak a word of Hebrew, but I have listened to The Nazi-show here in Europe, and so now I know what Israel as National Movement of Self Defence is. So I and millions like me are now Zionists. Also, there is a strong social justice Peace movement in Hebrew-speaking Israel. Be careful what you wish for, Wolfgang. Nazism is about to swallow Germany whole, once again.
Yes ma’am. Right on the money. Jews ideologically aligned on the Left in 21st century America is a luxury belief system that is too stupid and unrealistic to survive. You can’t save everybody. Some people are self-destructive. But I’m not going down with that ship. If people have an emotional attachment to a political party or ideology that hates them, that’s a mental problem I can’t fix.
I’m not an observant Jew. But if I have to choose between saving a rabbi and saving a Communist/Progressive (another fake euphemism), it’s not really a question. Sorry, Trotsky, not sorry.
And yes, we have to build alliances with the people who support us. How obvious is that?
American Jewish organizations are simply not competent to deal with this moment. How do we fix this?
"It is better to be feared than loved if you can't be both." Niccolo Machiavelli.
Israel made its choice. And it was right.