re: #20 Cheese Eating Victory Monkey

Thank you for the comprehensive guide. I’m definitely not an expert on Judaism, I learned many things here, and I agree with you, but that doesn’t address my understanding that such arguments depend on your stream of Judaism and politics. Essentially, one can cherry-pick pieces of the Torah and Oral Law and it seems that’s what you did here (no offense intended).

I can appreciate how someone who is not familiar with Judaism can suspect me of “cherry picking” Torah to make my arguments. However, the same arguments are made in very many ways all across Torah Judaism.

Hillel famously said that the essence of the Law is do not do to others what is hateful to you. All else is commentary, now go and study.

And that brings me to why I chose these quotes in particular.

This is core Judaism. Those quoted are Moses - who if you are observant is actually quoting G-d Himself directly, Isaiah (one of the most major prophets) and the sages of the Talmud.

Specifically, I drew most of my quotes from Pirkei Avot, which is one of the most famous Talmudic texts. Pirkei Avot literally means Ethics of the Fathers. I could have chosen many sources, but sort of the point is, that there are no bigger Rabbis then men like Judah HaNassi, Hillel and Akiva. Further, the entire first chapter of Avot is dedicated to the chain of transmission of the Law and these ethical principles from Moses, through the prophets to those Rabbis.

No Jew who knows anything about Judaism will say otherwise.

So frankly, no, I did not cherry pick, and I invite you to look into our 3,000 year Tradition to see the many thousands of ways these principles have been enumerated on by others as well.

I think the title of your post should have been “Why Most Jews Don’t Vote Republican”. In one poll, 48% of Jews considered voting for Bush in 2004.

And yet much fewer than those did. The Jews vote around 75% Democratic since the twenties. It dipped down into the sixties during the Eisenhower years and against Carter in 1980.

Also, there seems to be a trend of Orthodox Jews voting for Republicans which is only expected to grow in the next few decades.

You mean Republican pundits expect that. It is true that there were some Jews who were taken in by the Fox anti-Obama scare tactics in the last election. They mostly got over it, and if you think that the teabags are ever going to make serious headway in the Jewish community, you are dreaming.

Looking at why Orthodox Jews have gone GOP

Yes there are some who were taken in by the propaganda. Most however got over it. There are also, in any group, those who are outwardly more “pious” than they are internally. If you really think Orthodox Jews are lining up to be perfected by a GOP that has swung fundamentalist Christian, you are again deluded, and so are the writers. In either case, there are far more secular Jews in America, and the GOP has made no inroads with them, because despite a lack of Torah learning, the cultural values are that come from Torah are still very strong.

Bottom line: The Democratic party is out of touch with the needs of this growing segment of Jewish voters

The Democratic party is out of touch on many things. Considering the GOP to be evil does not make the Dems good. Most Jews will tell you that the Dems are “good by default.”

and that this block is willing to look past (or ignorant) of the Torah points you bring up.

Don’t bet on that.