US elections 2024: Does any political party 'own' the Jews? - opinion

“If you want a peaceful life,” my father would preach to me, “then avoid two things in life: religion and politics!”

Well, that sage advice was obviously lost on me. I decided to study for the rabbinate and make that my career choice. And I also loved to dabble in politics. From an early age, I followed the American political scene. I would stay up all night on Election Day, watching the returns; it was as exciting as any baseball pennant chase or horse race could be. Prodded by my brother – who also was deeply involved in political affairs (he even once ran for Congress in California) – I served for several years as a Republican election judge, overseeing the voting in one of Chicago’s many polling stations.

Chicago – as you may know – was ruled for decades by the Daley “Machine.” Richard J. Daley ruled the city during much of my youth, serving six consecutive terms as mayor, dislodged only when he died of a heart attack. His son, Richard M. Daley, would also serve six terms as mayor (the elder Daley would often say, “If you can’t help your own son, what kind of father are you?!). The Daleys controlled every ward, every precinct, with fastidious, even obsessive, attention so that every person’s vote was pursued and duly – Daley? – recorded. Being a contrarian by nature, I tended to go against the grain, to side with the disenfranchised, the weaker side, and so I became a Republican, suffering no small amount of abuse from my friends, who had been indoctrinated from birth to vote Democratic.

This was the trend, the norm in American politics from at least 1928, when 72% of American Jewish voters supported Democrat Al Smith over Republican Herbert Hoover. Ever since then, with rare exception, Jews have voted overwhelmingly Democratic in presidential elections, averaging 76%, and even exceeding 80% in some elections. Only Eisenhower in 1956 and Reagan in 1980 managed to garner some 40% of the Jewish vote, the latter benefiting from the (well-deserved) animosity of the Jewish community toward Jimmy Carter, who still succeeded in garnering 60% of the Jewish vote.

The struggle to win Jewish support still continues

While Jews constitute only about 2% of the United States population (the number varies depending upon who is considered a Jew), we tend to punch above our weight, as we vote in greater percentages and lend financial support to the candidates beyond our numbers. We also continue to attract an inordinate amount of attention in the world press, and so it appears to many of the candidates that we are a group to indeed be considered and courted. Somehow, we always manage to be in the thick of things, as this year once again confirms. Harris has a Jewish husband, Doug Emhoff – couldn’t they think of a less woke, more appropriate moniker than “second gentleman”?! – and Trump still has a bunch of Jewish grandchildren.

Israel, of course, dominates the headlines, but our struggle to survive has taken on a new and greater dimension. Now what happens in the cafés of Tel Aviv or in the tunnels of Gaza directly impacts, even immediately, the streets and campuses of America. Case in point: We arrived this past week in Newton, Massachusetts, and the very same night there was a shooting during a local pro-Israel protest. Like it or not, we Jews have gone global.

While in Boston, we visited the magnificent John F. Kennedy Memorial Library and Museum. It is a beautiful tribute to the life of the 35th US president, whose unique career was tragically cut short by an assassin’s bullet. Like 9/11 and Oct. 7, that event has been seared forever into my memory. My father came home from work that day crying, and when I naively asked him why he – a lifelong Republican – was weeping, he just looked at me incredulously and said, “Don’t you realize, our president has been shot?!”

At the museum, we saw exhibits highlighting JFK’s groundbreaking work in civil rights, the Peace Corps, and the Space Race; so much was accomplished in just three years. And we saw the grace and sophistication a presidential couple could bring to their nation. We also watched the televised 1960 presidential debate between JFK and Richard Nixon. The first of its kind, it attracted 70 million viewers, the largest political audience in US history. Though Kennedy came out stronger throughout the debates – there would be four in all – due to his good looks, charm, and wit, both candidates were respectful and intelligent and spoke about issues, not personality.

What a marked difference to the debate we all watched in the current campaign! We cringed at the participants’ sniping, the weird faces, the recriminations and defamations launched at each other, and, most importantly, at the paucity of real and impactful issues that needed to be aired. Like many others, I pricked up my ears at the mention of Israel and the Jews, and I found fault with statements by both Harris and Trump.

Trump made the audacious claim that if he failed to be elected, “Israel would be dead within two years.” Donald, while we truly appreciate all you did for Israel and the Jewish people during your term as president – recognizing Jerusalem as our eternal capital, cutting off aid to Iran and Palestinian terrorists, and the breakthrough Abraham Accords – we are an ancient, resilient people, and we are not going anywhere. We are destined by God to survive throughout eternity, and history has proven that we cannot be vanquished or vanished by even the most formidable foe.

And as for Kamala’s worn-out, pie-in-the-sky promise to rejuvenate the “two-state solution,” that is a stale dead end that has no credibility in the real world. First of all, there are – at least – three states in the mix: Israel, the Palestinians, and Gaza, which violently broke away from the Palestinian Authority and vowed to eradicate the Jewish state. And poll after poll continues to confirm that the vast majority of Palestinians – not to mention most of the Arab states that support them – refuse to accept Israel in any form and are dedicated to our elimination, no matter how long that takes. Only an America that dares the Arab world to acknowledge our permanent existence as a Jewish state can change the status quo and bring peace.

In JFK’s memorable inaugural address on January 20, 1961, he said:

“To those nations who would make themselves our adversary, we offer not a pledge but a request: that both sides begin anew the quest for peace before the dark powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in planned or accidental self-destruction. We dare not tempt them with weakness. For only when our arms are sufficient beyond doubt can we be certain beyond doubt that they will never be employed... Let us begin anew – remembering on both sides that civility is not a sign of weakness, and sincerity is always subject to proof... Let us never negotiate out of fear. But let us never fear to negotiate... Let both sides explore what problems unite us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.”

I would add: Let no political party assume it owns us or our precious vote. That will go to the person and party that deserves our support and will assist us in our holy struggle to bring redemption. 

The writer is director of the Jewish Outreach Center of Ra’anana. rabbistewart@gmail.com