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| Purchase by Micah D. Halpern. |
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By Micah D. Halpern
September 10, 2004
It is official. We have ushered in a new era.
The age of the Jewish Republican, even more precisely, the age of the "frum" Republican has arrived. Not only have orthodox, observant, immediately identifiable Jews entered the enclave called the Republican Party, but they are welcomed. I'm not speaking of Republican voters, I'm referring to people who help in the decision making process, people whose voices are heard, people whose opinions are valued. It is a status that has been evolving over the past decade, it is a phenomenon whose time has come.
It was never a secret that, traditionally, the Democrats were the party of the Jews. For years, Republicans were thought of as anti. Anti-Israel and anti-Jewish, anti-Semitic. The Republicans espoused principles antithetical to the interests of the Jewish community. The Republicans were thought to be in the pocket of the Gulf oil states, to be not only not Jewishly inclined, but to actually be pro-Arab. You can still see parts of that in their old guard.
But the party that has emerged in 2004 is a new and different and enlightened Republican party. It is a compassionate Republican Party. The Republicans of today are friends to Israel, they are great advocates of Israel's policy on fighting terror. They are no longer tainted by the classic, subtle as it might have been, antisemitism of yesteryear. Gone are the days of James Baker who said, "f--- the Jews they don't vote for us anyway."
I watched it first hand from the floor of the convention.
The obvious signs of Jewish comfort, of belonging, were pervasive. Yarmulkas - Haredi black velvet, Bnei Akiva crochet, the proverbial baseball cap and funky red-white-and-blue Americana - were abundant. I stopped counting yarmulkas at 70 and there were many, many more. What stuck out was not that these men were wearing what others call skull caps. What stuck out was that they were wearing them so obviously and obliviously. The Jews of the Republican National Convention were not hidden in some dark corner, away from the intruding eye of the television camera or the discriminating eye of Republican heavy hitters. They were wherever they wanted to be. They were among the heavy hitters.
Today's Orthodox Jews in the Republican ranks of leadership are brokers and influence peddlers. They are not delegates they are business leaders.
At a political convention the content is always less important than the contacts. The outcome is never a surprise. And the Jews worked the crowd with the best of them, movers and shakers mingling with delegates and with apparatchniks - circulating, meeting, talking, gesticulating, shaking heads and hands.
As someone who spends much time roaming the corridors of power in our nation's capital, meeting and exchanging ideas with those in power and those behind the power, this convention was revolutionary. Obviously dressed Jews are few and far between in government. Yarmulkas are unusual. Not to by any means imply that there are no frum Jews in DC, but rather, that they are not apparently frum - they are discreet in their Jewishness, many preferring not to cover their heads in certain circumstances. Traditionally, Washington DC is the place where WASP's are comfortable, where Jews - and everyone else, are not.
At this convention, Rebbitzen Esther Jungreiss gave the benediction on Tuesday, the second night. An orthodox woman quoted Tehillim, Psalms, in Hebrew before the entire assembly. She asked for a moment of silence on behalf of those innocent victims of the Beer Sheva terror bus bombings earlier that day - and the hall went quiet. Everyone felt the power of the moment, Jews should have felt the pride.
In the last presidential election an astonishing 19% of Jews voted for Bush. That was a dramatic increase over the previous Clinton-Bush and Clinton-Dole elections. This year it looks like the numbers may be even higher, like the balance is shifting.
The biggest, but not the only, reason is Israel. This President, George W, Number 43, has supported Israel like no other. And those Jews in America who vote on a single issue - Israel, will probably vote for Bush this November. And it seems that the largest percentage of Jews voting for George Bush will be the Orthodox Jewish community. Is that because Israel is more of a priority for the Orthodox community than for other Jewish communities? Maybe. It doesn't make a difference to the Republicans.
What makes a difference is that now, across the board, in the highest echelons of American political life, ostensibly and obviously observant Jewish men and woman can feel comfortable and are welcomed, not because of anyone else, but because of who they themselves are. And they are vital, contributing, Americans. Hats off to them all, figuratively speaking, that is.
Views expressed by the author do not
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