History Forum / General / British History / April 2006

Jewish World Review April 25, 2006 / 27 Nissan, 5766

"Why are so many Jews liberal?"

By Dennis Prager

"The most frequently asked question I receive from non-Jews about Jews is,
why are Jews so liberal?

The question is entirely legitimate since Jews (outside of Israel) are
indeed overwhelmingly liberal and disproportionately left of liberal as
well.

For example, other than blacks, no American group votes so lopsidedly for
the Democratic Party.  And the question is further sharpened given that
traditional Jewish values are not leftist.  That is why the more religiously
involved the Jew, the less likely he is to be on the Left.

The old saw, "There are two types of Jews - those who believe Judaism is
social justice and those who know Hebrew," contains more than a kernel of
truth.

In no order of importance, here are six reasons:

1. Judaism is indeed preoccupied with social justice (as well as with
holiness and personal morality), and many Jews believe that the only way to
achieve a just society is through leftist policies.

2. More than any other major religion, Judaism has always been
preoccupied with this world. The (secular) Encyclopedia Judaica begins its
entry on "Afterlife" by noting that "Judaism has always affirmed belief in
an afterlife." But the preoccupation of Judaism has been making this world a
better place. That is why the Torah (the Five Books of Moses) is largely
silent about the afterlife; and it is preoccupied with rejecting ancient
Egyptian values. That value system was centered on the afterlife - its bible
was the Book of the Dead, and its greatest monuments, the pyramids, were
tombs.

3. Most Jews are frightened by anything that connotes right wing -
such as the words "right-wing" and "conservative." Especially since the
Holocaust, they think that threats to their security emanate from the Right
only. (It is pointless to argue that Nazism stood for National Socialism and
therefore was really a leftist ideology. Whether that is theoretically
accurate doesn't matter; nearly everyone regards the Nazis as far Right,
and, therefore, Jews fear the Right.) The fact that the Jews' best friends
today are conservatives and the fact that the Left is the home of most of
the Jews' enemies outside of the Muslim world have made little impact on
Jews' psyches.

4. Liberal Jews fear most religion. They identify religion -
especially fundamentalist religion and especially Christianity - with
anti-Semitism. Jews are taught from birth about the horrors of the
Holocaust, and of nearly 2,000 years of European, meaning Christian,
anti-Semitism. They therefore tend to fear Christianity and believe that
secularism guarantees their physical security.

5. Despite their secularism, Jews may be the most religious ethnic
group in the world. The problem is that their religion is rarely Judaism;
rather it is every "ism" of the Left. These include liberalism, socialism,
feminism, Marxism and environmentalism. Jews involved in these movements
believe in them with the same ideological fervor and same suspension of
critical reason with which many religious people believe in their religion.

It is therefore usually as hard to shake a liberal Jew's belief in the Left
and in the Democratic Party as it is to shake an evangelical Christian's
belief in Christianity. The big difference, however, is that the Christian
believer acknowledges his Christianity is a belief, whereas the believer in
liberalism views his belief as entirely the product of rational inquiry.

The Jews' religious fervor emanates from the origins of the Jewish
people as a religious people elected by G-d to help guide humanity to a
better future. Of course, the original intent was to bring humanity to
ethical monotheism, G-d-based universal moral standards, not to secular
liberalism or to feminism or to socialism. Leftist Jews have simply
secularized their religious calling.  ******

BINGO! -- DSH

6. Liberal Jews fear nationalism. The birth of nationalism in Europe
planted the secular seeds of the Holocaust (religious seeds had been planted
by some early and medieval Church teachings and reinforced by Martin
Luther). European nationalists welcomed all national identities except the
Jews'. That is a major reason so many Jews identify primarily as "world
citizens"; they have contempt for nationalism and believe that strong
national identities, even in America, will exclude them."

Just as liberal Jews fear a resurgent Christianity despite the fact
that contemporary Christians are the Jews' best friends, leftist Jews fear
American nationalism despite the fact that Americans who believe in American
exceptionalism are far more pro-Jewish and pro-Israel than leftist
Americans. But most leftist Jews so abhor nationalism, they don't even like
the Jews' nationalism (Zionism).

Precisely!  I am one of those who believe in American Exceptionalism, are
Pro-Jewish and Pro-Israel and who are also Philo-Semitic.  -- DSH

If you believe that leftist ideas and policies are good for America
and for the world, then you are particularly pleased to know how deeply
Jews - with their moral passion, intellectual energies and abilities, and
financial clout - are involved with the Left. If, on the other hand, you
believe that the Left is morally confused and largely a destructive force in
America and the world, then the Jews' disproportionate involvement on the
Left is nothing less than a tragedy - for the world and especially for the
Jews."
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'Nuff Said.

DSH

Lux et Veritas et Libertas

Vires et Honor