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Jewish Journal

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November 11, 2016

Inside the minds of young Americans in Israel who chose Trump, Clinton or neither

Leave a Comment / Election 2016, Israel /

Trump, Clinton or neither? The stakes and passions ran high for 200 young American Israelis who gathered Tuesday in Jerusalem at an election viewing party organized by Masa Israel. As a significant segment of the hundreds of thousands of American voters living in Israel—many of them dual citizens—the young voters had much to say about this year’s relatively polarizing candidates and what it was like to be in Israel during this groundbreaking election.

At the election viewing party in Tel Aviv, Masa — an initiative of The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Israeli government which hosts what it calls “immersive, international experiences” for Jews ages 18-30 — polled the Masa fellows and alumni on their preferences between the two major candidates. A large majority, 70 percent, favored Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, with many citing her experience and inclusive leadership as her biggest strengths.

Julie Duitch, who is originally from New Jersey, is interning for Signals Analytics as part of the Israel Experience Career Israel program. She maintained that Clinton was a much more qualified presidential candidate.

“The values that Trump has do not align with where America needs to be going, and Hillary has been providing so much for the United States in all of her past positions. She is much more ready to represent our country throughout the world,” said Duitch.

Josh Linden, who teaches English in Petach Tikvah as part of Masa’s Israel Teaching Fellows program, said he liked what Clinton stands for — namely, the way in which she brings people and countries together through her leadership style. “Clinton is all about moving forward and extending our hand to the rest of the world,” he said.

Among those who favored Clinton, many cited negative perceptions of president-elect Donald Trump as the main reason for their preference for his opponent. Na’ama Goldfill, who is originally from Los Angeles and is now interning for Career Israel at a preschool for children with autism, viewed Trump as a scary candidate with respect to his prioritization of white male voters over the electorate’s other races and genders.

“Despite the fact that I don’t agree with all of Hillary Clinton’s policies, I think she’s a more qualified candidate overall,” Goldfill said. Linden, similarly, said Trump’s “us versus them” rhetoric makes him uncomfortable. Trump’s policy on marriage equality is especially concerning for Linden, who is gay.

Some American-Israeli voters preferred Trump as a means to shake up the establishment and to influence the U.S. Supreme Court. Gabby Shuster, who is originally from Milwaukee and now works as a project manager for an Israeli overseas events company, said she voted for Trump because of the Supreme Court’s transitional period during the next presidential administration, including the need to fill the former seat of the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

“There will be maybe four Supreme Court appointments, which means instead of a 50/50 court left and right it will be a very clear majority left-wing,” said Shuster. “For me that’s a very significant power shift that is generational.” She reasoned that while a Trump presidential term would last four years, the Supreme Court seats are lifetime appointments that affect “everything in America.”

A select few of the American Israelis in attendance chose not to vote as a conscious decision and due to their lack of faith in the democratic process. Amy Albertson, who is originally from Sacramento, California, and now works as a creative content manager for Masa in Jerusalem, said she registered to vote long before the deadline. Yet she ultimately decided not to vote because she felt this election did not offer candidates who embodied the American democracy in which she strongly believes.

“I want to know that whatever bad result comes out, I don’t have blood on my hands and I didn’t contribute to this mess,” Albertson said.

Spencer Tracy, a freelance journalist from Michigan who now lives in Tel Aviv, said that while everyone around him said he had a moral obligation to vote, he chose not to cast a ballot because of his perceptions on the deterioration of American Democracy.

“It doesn’t matter who wins or loses because money is in charge no matter what…the government is run by money. The two-party system is really a one party system. Whatever minor policies they are working on are superficial,” said Tracy.

Many at the Masa event noted the significant interest that Israelis exhibited in the U.S. election, and some hypothesized which candidate might be “better for Israel.” Julie Duitch argued that Clinton would represent the interests of minorities—including Israel as a minority in the Middle East. Josh Linden was surprised by how many Trump supporters there were in Israel, but said he ultimately understood that phenomenon.

“They want something that is more American and less this vague sense of cultural identity — which is what I think is great about America — but they want something more concrete,” he said. “People here in Israel seem to think that Trump’s foreign policy is more in line with what Bibi (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nickname) wants and more pro-Israel than I think it actually is.”

Overall, many of the American Israelis expressed their relief that the election was coming to a close, while exhibiting a hint of skepticism about the future. Spencer Tracy said he has had enough of the election because it pervaded nearly everything aspect of life. He called Clinton “the better person” who would keep the world turning, but was curious what would happen with a Trump victory.

“I know it’s not going to happen,” he quipped — though he was wrong. “But if Trump wins, then I’d like to see what happens.”

Ian Kaneshiro, who is originally from Los Angeles and works in Tel Aviv as a digital advertiser, hoped that above all else, “Americans can pull together as one and unite under whichever president is elected….We need to work together regardless of who we voted for in this election.”

Eliana Rudee is a fellow with the Haym Salomon Center. She is a graduate of Scripps College, where she studied international relations and Jewish studies. Her bylines have been featured in USA Today, Forbes, and The Hill. Follow her column on JNS.org.

Inside the minds of young Americans in Israel who chose Trump, Clinton or neither Read More »

American Support for a Palestinian State

Leave a Comment / Israel, Israel, Middle East, News, Rosner's Domain, United States /

Americans have been asked about their support for Palestinian statehood for many years, more often since the early Nineties, when the Oslo Accords made this option more of an issue and, at least for a while, seemingly more realistic. Naturally, circumstances have changed – from a peace process, to an Intifada, from a Clinton administration, to Bush, to Obama, and now to Trump. Israeli and Palestinian opinions have changed with time. The expectations of a coming peace have changed. The expectations of American involvement in the Middle East increased and then decreased.

American support and opposition to a Palestinian State went up and down, but not much up and not much down. If there is any surprise as we look at the numbers of support and opposition from 1990 until today, it is the stability of public opinion (there are a few outliers).

One note of caution: not all polls use the exact same language, but most use a version similar to Gallup’s: “Do you favor or oppose the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip?”

Here is our tracker:

[table id=8 /]

* Gallup, ** Quinnipiac, *** AJC, **** Zogby, ***** Newsweek, + McClatchy, ++ CBS, +++ ABC

American Support for a Palestinian State Read More »

Jewish American support for Trump

Leave a Comment / Israel, News, Rosner's Domain, United States, Worldwide /

The following feature will monitor stats on Jewish America’s support for Donald Trump. For the time being, there aren’t a lot of numbers on this – except for some pre-election and election day stats collected mainly by Jim Gerstein – but this is expected to change as soon as Trump comes into office.

Meanwhile, here is a short analysis of Trump’s performance among Jewish voters in the last elections and here’s a little table showing this performance in a historical context:

[table id=9 /]

 

 

Jewish American support for Trump Read More »

Q&A: Israeli-Iranian Broadcaster Amir building bridges between Iran and Israel

Leave a Comment / Blogs /

Menashe Amir is the long-time popular Iranian-Israeli journalist and broadcaster from Radio Israel’s daily Farsi language news program who on October 27th was honored for his work in building bridges between Israel and the people of Iran with his unique program. Prior to the event, I had a chance to sit down with the man who has become a legend for many Iranians of different faiths because his program provides accurate news to millions of Iranians living in Iran via a satellite radio broadcasted directly from Israel.  His program also allows listeners in Iran to anonymously and freely call in and voice their grievances or concerns with the current Iranian regime on the air.

He has essentially become the voice of Israel and the voice of Jews to the Iranian population living in Iran today. He has earned the respect of Iranian Jews worldwide for showing the positive aspects of Israel and Jewry. More importantly he has gained tremendous respect from Iranian media personalities who are not Jewish and live outside of Iran for his accurate reporting and information given daily to the people of Iran. Interestingly, at the recent event honoring Amir in Los Angeles, many of the attendees were Iranian Muslim media personalities who typically do not support Israel and are often critical of Israeli governments. However they did attend the event out of respect for Amir and his journalistic work on behalf of the people of Iran.

Aside from internet sites and social media sites, Amir’s program is perhaps the only link between Israel and the people of Iran that exists today. In my humble opinion, the program carries out the very important work of giving non-Jewish Farsi speaking audiences in Iran an accurate perspective of what Israel is truly about from the mouth of a native Farsi speaker. His comments and information have given Iranians in Iran a real positive perspective of Israel that counter-balances the anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements spewed by Iranian regime officials everyday. My conversation with the 77-year-old Amir shed light on his near six decade career on Radio Israel and the challenges he has encountered. The following is an English translation of that Farsi language interview I had with him recently…

 

So how did you first begin working in the field of journalism?

I began working as a journalist at 17 years old and had not yet received my high school diploma. I began working as a journalist for French language newspapers since I was fluent in French and also at Keyhan newspaper in Tehran covering cultural issues. I also worked for some magazines in Iran until the day I was ready to immigrate to Israel. At age 20 I immigrated to Israel but for three years prior, my experience in journalism was in Iran. When I came to Israel I was encouraged to work at their Farsi radio program because I was both fluent in Farsi but also had past experience as a journalist. At that time I did not speak the Hebrew language and I was told that anyone who worked at the radio needed to know Hebrew in order to be able to provide any content for the Farsi language program. So what I had to do was obtain the news of what was going on in Israel from French language newspapers published in Israel.

 

Why did you decide to leave Iran?

At the age 17 years I was involved with several Jewish organizations and Zionist groups. When the Jewish Agency invited the young Jewish students from Iran to visit Iran, I went to visit Israel and I really like the country. I told myself that after I leave high school, I will come to Israel for college and this is exactly what I did. After obtaining my high school diploma, I came to Israel and entered college in Israel. But since I did not know Hebrew sufficiently, I was not able to complete my first year in college. I had to take a year off to first learn Hebrew fluently and then return to college.

 

You’ve been at the radio for more than 50 years, why did you remain at this station or job for so long?

Yes it has been 56 years that I have been working at Radio Israel and normally journalists leave one job and go to another during their career. In reality during my career, I have done other work while working at the Farsi language program at Radio Israel, but I still remained at the radio because I felt it was an important aspect of the relationship between Iran and Israel. In the last 37 years since the Islamic revolution in Iran, I have also worked as an expert on Iran issues for various Israeli news media outlets translating and reporting the news from Iran for their outlets. With all of this work, I have continued my work with Radio Israel’s Farsi program.

 

What role do you believe has your program played when it comes to Iran and Israel relations during the last 37 years?

During the last 37 years we have been one of the few channels between Iran and Israel or contact for the people of Iran. Before the revolution, it has been  65 years since the program has been on the air. During the Shah of Iran’s reign, our goal was to introduce Israel and Jews to the people Iranians and be a source for news to Jews in Iran. But after the Islamic revolution in Iran, our goal was to provide unbiased information or news to the people of Iran about what was transpiring in their own country. Our program has been more about providing news about what is occurring in Iran. During the last 37 years our purpose has been to provide listeners with information about what has been going on in Israel, Middle East and also what is transpiring in their own country. Because of this we’ve had a lot of listeners. A joke in Iran at the time in the early years of revolution was that Khomeini had sent a letter to the Israeli Prime Minister saying he wanted to pay the salaries of the employees at Radio Israel because they were the only unbiased and accurate source of information about what was actually transpiring within Iran itself. This was of course a joke in Iran but it showed how much the people listened to the program.

 

What was one of the most difficult aspect of working at this job?

In my opinion the most difficult times for me was during the Iran-Iraq war. At one time I had to read a letter on the air from a woman who had only between married for two months in Iran. It was a heart-breaking letter that her husband had been drafted by the Iranian regime to fight in the war and was killed in action on the front lines of the war. While I was reading this on the air for the listeners, I suddenly got emotional and began weeping. It was one of the most difficult moments for me on the radio.

 

Have you ever experienced pressure from the Israeli governments or Israeli officials to broadcast or not broadcast certain news or information during your career?

Radio Israel is a radio that has no ties with the Israeli government and is in no way controlled by the Israeli government. No one dictates to us as to what we can broadcast or not broadcast.  We broadcast whatever is information in news-worthy and legitimate to cover.

 

How has your Farsi language program brought Iranians together of various faiths and backgrounds?

Because the trust people of Iran have in our program and the fact that we provide accurate unbiased information in our program, we have been popular. We have a good resource for information and they can tell. The people of Iran try to listen to our program for their news. We believe a democracy is the best form of government anywhere in the world and I am confident if the government in Iran were to truly become democratic, then there would be immediate peace between Iran and Israel because the goals of both countries are the same and they have no problems between each other.

 

We’ve seen the Iranian regime for decades put out anti-Israel propaganda and anti-Semitic messages. You have average Iranians calling into your show all the time, in your personal opinion, do they really hate Israel and Israelis?

During the last 37 years the Iranian regime has tried to brainwash people to hate Israel but this brainwashing has not been completed. There are many many people in Iran who still like Israel and call into our program. Listeners have called in and said “your voice is the voice of Israel and has made us happy to hear it”. The Iranian regime has also failed to silence our voice and our program is still broadcasted throughout Iran. We are one of the few Farsi language media outlets that reports not only on news occurring in Israel and in the Middle East, but more importantly on the internal news of what is happening within Iran itself.

 

Who was the most  interesting interview or the most interesting topic you’ve ever covered?

I don’t have any in particular interesting interview or subject, but listeners have said to me that one of the most interesting aspects of our program was a young child from Iran who was an 11 year old girl and wrote on her Facebook page that she has heard our program and that she likes the country of Israel and would like to visit Israel. This proves to me that the brainwashing efforts of the Iranian regime to promote hatred of Israel among the youth have failed and younger people in Iran have no ill feelings towards Israel.

 

Why did you decide to retire after nearly six decades of being on the air at this job?

I placed in my request for retirement after 46 years to the radio. After that moment I asked myself who else could be brought into my place to do this critical same level of work on the air? I then agreed to continue working at the radio for one year in order for them to find one or two other people that could properly replace me and do my work. Unfortunately because of the bureaucracy in Israel and the lack of finding someone with the appropriate level of Farsi fluency and journalism background to do this work, it did not happen. So one year turn into two years and then four years and then into 10 years. Now it is 12 years since I officially retired from my position on the radio, but I still appear on the program and have continued working there because of the importance of what we do. I am hopeful that we can find someone with the qualifications and ability to do this work, so I can leave the radio with the peace of mind that it can continue successfully. I’d like to ideally move on and work on my other projects.

 

What other projects are you involved in nowadays?

I have other projects I am currently working on. For example, one is an English-Farsi-Hebrew dictionary that I have been putting together for the last 20 years that has not been completed.  I have many articles that I want to write. I want to put together a website on Israel and my views in Farsi. All of this takes time that I do not have right now. However all of these projects are not as important as my work on the radio and that is why I continue my work on the radio’s Farsi language program. It’s been 56 years that I’ve been on the air, so I am one of the oldest radio personalities still working for the radio and 56 years is no joke.

 

How do you see the future of this Farsi language radio program unfolding in Israel?

This radio program and the work it does must continue. The friendship between the people of Iran and people of Israel will not end. I am hopeful the radio receives a great budget from the government so we can find the proper replacements and we can continue our work.

 

When was the last time you went to Iran and do you miss Iran?

It was there two years before the Iranian revolution. I do miss Iran greatly and would like to visit again and talk to the people of Iran to see what is transpiring for them every day. As a journalist it is interesting for me to report on what the people of Iran are wanting for their lives and future. I do wish to visit Iran but I know that if I were to do that right now, I would likely return to Israel in a coffin.

 

There were once great relations between Iran and Israel prior to the 1979 revolution. Do you believe Iranians in Iran have forgotten what great economic, diplomatic and other ties both nations shared?

In the last 37 years the people of Iran have not forgotten the great relationship between Iran and Israel that existed prior to the revolution. However the younger generation of Iranians may not know about the Israel-Iran relationship and how Israel helped Iran tremendously. I do believe the people of both countries will forge better relations one day.

 

You live in Israel and interact with Iranian Jews living there. What are their feelings or sentiments about Iran today?

Iranian Jews living in Israel today see a big difference between the people and nation of Iran and the current regime in power in Iran. They still have a love for Iran and the Iranian people. They would like to see peace between both nations one day. Now despite the nearly daily anti-Israel messages put out by the Iranian regime, Iranian Jews still love Iran, maintain Iranian culture and some do even want to one day visit Iran again one day.

Q&A: Israeli-Iranian Broadcaster Amir building bridges between Iran and Israel Read More »

Did I love sailing on the Carnival Breeze?

Leave a Comment / Travel /

Why was I in ” target=”_blank”>Carnival Breeze, Let's Explore the ship! 

My first day on my FUN SHIP was fantastic! I loved exploring the beautiful Carnival Breeze. I am saying YES this year to 50 new things before I am 50. I loved the SKY COURSE! Try it! You can do it!

Do you love a Serene Sunset on ” target=”_blank”>My day in Cozumel: First Scuba Dive, Then scream on the water slide!

Thank you to Carnival Cruises for a great day in Cozumel. I went on two scuba dives with Sand Dollar Sports and tried out my new video camera. (Things look a bit blue to me–I need a red filter!) Jen and I went to La Choza for local lunch and when we got back to the ship, I went screaming down the waterslides: Drainpipe (the orange slide) and Twister (the yellow slide). For me, it was a terrific adventure and my first time on waterslides on a ship. I loved my entire day! You can relax by the pool, watch sail away, stay in touch with Fun Hub, watch a movie at Dive-In under the stars, play golf under the moon and eat sushi at Bonsai. This really is a FUN SHIP!

Will you be ” target=”_blank”>Sea Day on Carnival Breeze?

Spend your day learning about future cruises, eat at all the establishments including the chocolate extravaganza and the fun never stops! I went on both of the water slides and loved screaming my way down Twister and Drainpipe! Sit by the pool, watch a 4-D movie, have a Dreams Studio Photo shoot, listen to live music or watch the sunset. Choose the way you want to have FUN–You can even have your portrait with the Dance Team from FLICK like I did. Thanks Carnival Cruises for a fantastic week in the Caribbean

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This article first appeared on “>Lisa Niver Did I love sailing on the Carnival Breeze? Did I love sailing on the Carnival Breeze? Read More »

A prayer for our country after the election

Leave a Comment / Election 2016, Judaism /

Help us, God, to unite our great country
In the wake of a contentious election season.
Teach us to listen to one another,
To heal and to hope.
The days that lie before us are ours to shape.
Let them be days of repair,
Days when we join together
To build a new future.
For some of us the results of this election were a deep blow,
For some of us those same results were a cause for celebration.
Our charge today must be to rise above all conflict,
To rise above our differences,
And welcome in a new time of understanding.
Bless us God, with ears to hear,
Hearts to love,
And hands to reach across party lines,
So that we can ensure liberty for all,
Dignity for all.
Land of opportunity and dreams
May we protect your majestic landscape,
And may we treasure the freedom that is our birthright.
Teach us, God, to pledge our allegiance
To every soul in need
And every child praying for a better tomorrow.
Bless America, God,
With peace, with prosperity, and with justice for all. Amen.

A prayer for our country after the election Read More »

Trump’s Needed Act

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Culture /

This has been a tough blog to write. I am as dumbstruck by Tuesday’s results as everyone else—the polls were dead wrong (except for the Los Angeles Times)—and my forty plus years in the civil rights field had convinced me that an individual like Donald Trump who insulted and demeaned minorities, women and undercut our notions of tolerance simply couldn’t get elected.

What may be the most troubling takeaway from this week’s results is that a decades-long societal effort to make bigotry and tolerance of bigotry unacceptable in America’s political lexicon has been seriously undermined, if not totally trashed.

As this blog has written on several occasions (“>here, “>here, “>here), whether Trump is himself a bigot and a misogynist is irrelevant. That’s an issue between him, his conscience and his God. What is absolutely relevant is the demonstrable way in which he espoused, tolerated and almost welcomed bigotry into the mainstream of his campaign.

His hostility to Latinos and Latino immigrants, despite the blatant falseness of his allegations about immigration, crime and the dynamics of immigration is beyond dispute. His absurd pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants which was a cornerstone of his campaign along with the multi-billion dollar wall on our southern border was based in racist misinformation. Latinos have every reason to be troubled.

His nastiness to Muslims and his broad brush condemnation of Muslim immigrants is breathtakingly bigoted and terrible policy. His comments about women—on videotape no less—are shockingly vulgar, puerile and undeniable. His hesitancy in distancing himself from former Klan leader David Duke was distressing to every minority historically targeted by the Klan and America’s all too resilient hate groups.

His dependence on a conspiracy nut like Steve Bannon (former head of Breitbart) to run his campaign betrays the notions that underpin his dog whistles to bigots.

Now that Trump must face the reality of governing a diverse nation of over 350 million souls (a plurality of whom did NOT support his election) the craziness of many of his campaign slogans and assertions may jolt him and his saner aides into a modicum of reasonableness.

But one set of issues can’t wait for the slow movement of transitions and bureaucracy— Trump’s disgraceful normalizing of intolerance, misogyny, and bigotry.

Until this week, several generations of Americans were taught and have come to believe that even a hint of bigotry makes a public figure, much less a candidate for public office, unacceptable and unelectable. Even a hint of racism, anti-Semitism or anti-gay sentiment openly expressed—whether in public comment or overheard in private jabber—was sufficient to torpedo careers and campaigns. Not so with Donald Trump. He managed to weather the expression of vulgar bigotry, the flirtation with haters and the winking and nodding at intolerance time after time after time.

His political calculation that tens of millions of Americans wouldn’t care (or would applaud his brash un-PCness) appears to have been right.

This may be the most depressing aspect of Tuesday’s results—bigotry had no obvious price.

The notion that intolerance can be expressed and women demeaned without penalty is now in the ether and may find far too many folks willing to test its limits. Why not when it appears cost free? 

Whatever policies Trump may choose to advance in the months ahead—whether on the economic, foreign policy or social policy agendas—there aren’t any that will benefit from an environment of racial, religious and broader inter-group tensions; and tensions there will be without some leadership corrective.

Hopefully, Trump’s aides (at least the saner ones) will induce him to seek to bridge the chasms that he has fostered. He must make clear that campaigning was one thing, but governing is quite another. He must demonstrate that he understands that the president has responsibilities that transcend party, policies, partisanship and even past conduct.

Mario Cuomo's dictum about “campaigning in poetry but governing in prose” may need to be reversed. The nation is in need of some serious poetry to undo a year's worth of awful prose.

Trump’s Needed Act Read More »

Team Trump pulls tense Jerusalem all-nighter

Leave a Comment / Blogs, Election 2016, United States /

An hour before the initial election results came in, attorney Marc Zell, co-chairman of Republicans Overseas Israel, took out a chart of American states and crunched numbers. He predicted Donald Trump would take Kentucky, Indiana, Georgia and South Carolina — that’s 44 electoral votes.

“If Georgia is too close to call, that’s a bad sign,” he said.

He entered the main hall of the iconic Mike’s Place on Jaffa Street in Jerusalem at about 1 a.m. local time (3 p.m. PST) to optimistic greeters. He was carrying a box of “Make America Great Again” caps to give out to some 200 Trump supporters and volunteers who united there on election night, although some were already wearing them, like William Eicoff, a resident of the city of Ariel in the West Bank and proud Florida voter.

He had volunteered to contact Jewish communities in his region to encourage residents to vote. As an independent, he voted for Gary Johnson in the last election. Not this time.

“I know Trump supports Israel and I know he’s a builder,” he said, hoping this translates into more support for building Jewish settlements in “Judea and Samaria,” his preferred terms. “But another thing he said that I hope happens, is that he moves the embassy to Jerusalem.”

A Jerusalem-based author/writer who hails from New York, Zahava Englard is on the “Trump Train” in large part because of his tough stance on radical Islam.

“My No. 1 concern is the relationship between the United States and Israel, and I have to say that I do believe that there is a Clinton cartel.”

She doesn’t even want to consider a Hillary Clinton victory. “You need hope to keep living.”

By 1:22 a.m. local time, there was room for hope. The crowd cheered as Kentucky and Indiana went for Trump, but the fact that Georgia was too close to call had Zell concerned.

But less than two hours later, swing states Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio were also too close to call. Yiscah Shechter, a Jerusalem resident of 27 years, was nervous, but comforted.

“God runs the world,” she said. “Whoever’s going to win will do whatever He wants.”

Zell continued to crunch his numbers, tapping his feet, jittery. He sipped beer and ate some fries during what he described as a “nail-biting moment.” Reporters stopped by his table, where he was surrounded by Trump faithfuls, asking for his thoughts, feelings and predictions. He kept saying it was too close to call, but that he remained cautiously optimistic.

Even when Georgia was called for Trump, Virginia was still in play, and Florida was neck and neck.

“I’m really nervous,” one Trump supporter shouted to Zell. “I think she’s going to squeeze by.” 

“Take your negative energy out of here,” Zell countered.

Then came the turning point: Trump held his narrow lead in Florida; hope returned. The New England states, as expected, turned blue, prompting some applause from the handful of Clinton supporters in the crowd, but when Trump took more Southern states and held onto his one-percentage-point lead over Clinton in Florida, the crowd, consisting mostly of men sporting all sorts of kippahs, began to cheer and applaud with renewed confidence.

Finally, Trump surpassed 200 electoral votes, and confidence turned to cockiness. After Trump won Ohio, with projections he might win Michigan, the large barroom thundered with “Trump Trump Trump” and “Lock Her Up.” On monitors hanging over the bar, Fox and CNN were broadcast side by side, and the crowd made fun of CNN (the Clinton News Network, to them) lagging behind Fox’s electorate victory projections. In this room, the media were the biggest losers.

At this point, the Trump Train passengers were driving forward, drunk on the prospect of victory. The election hinged on Michigan or Pennsylvania, too close to call. Trump was up to 254 electoral votes.

“It’s like a miracle,” said Barbara Schwerd, a New Yorker who made aliyah to Jerusalem seven years ago. She describes herself as a pro-choice feminist who didn’t want a female “criminal” in the White House.

By 8:05 a.m., the election still wasn’t called, and some people shouted at the screen. A few dozen people were left, and everyone just wanted to go to sleep.

“We just need one state.”

“Make the call!”

Team Trump pulls tense Jerusalem all-nighter Read More »

After Trump’s win, Jews in red states feel emboldened, or embattled

Leave a Comment / Election 2016, United States /

At 6:30 Wednesday morning, Oklahoma City Rabbi Abby Jacobson received a text from one of her teenage congregants expressing sadness at the presidential election results — and fear.

“She said, ‘I’m sorry for texting you, rabbi, but I can’t say any of this at school,’” related Jacobson, the spiritual leader at the Conservative Emanuel Synagogue, in a state where 65 percent of voters favored Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton. “We have a lot of kids who feel unsafe sharing liberal ideas at school. We have a lot of kids who have met more bullying at school.”

In America’s Jewish community, Jacobson’s congregation is an outlier. Most American Jews live in states that voted for Clinton in Tuesday’s presidential election. Many of those who live in red states, at least in this election, still live in “blue” counties. In Florida and Pennsylvania, for example, Miami-Dade and Philadelphia counties, respectively, both went Democrat. Most of the 71 percent of American Jews who voted for Clinton live among populations that tend to agree with them politically.

Not so with Jacobson’s community, along with a handful of others across the country, who live not only in states but in counties and cities that voted for Trump. In her synagogue's Oklahoma County, Trump beat Clinton by 10 points.

Rabbis in red counties say their synagogues have substantial numbers of both Republicans and Democrats. A few say they try to avoid talking politics in synagogue so as not to further divide an already small community. But Jacobson and others say that while some of their Republican congregants are celebrating, those who have reached out are stunned and anxious.

“What I am finding is a general sense of shock, which I share,” said Rabbi Ralph Mecklenburger of Reform Beth-El Congregation in Fort Worth, Texas. “Nobody really thought this was going to happen. There are understandably some congregants who are happy, but I haven’t heard them exulting. What I’ve been hearing mostly is ‘I can’t believe it.’”

Rabbis in politically conservative areas say some of their congregants are used to feeling different from their neighbors, if not because of their religion then because of their politics.

“Walking out my door is an interfaith experience,” Jacobson said.

But congregants are reporting an increase in anti-Semitic attacks this school year, she said. Jacobson retold an anecdote she heard from one of her middle schoolers: a classmate this year said that “Hitler had the right idea.”

Mecklenburger, who is active with Planned Parenthood in a county that went 52 to 43 percent for Trump, said the election disappointment is familiar to him.

“Most of us are used to voting for people who don’t win,” he said. “You get used to fighting the good fight, but not necessarily winning. What was different is that you knew lots of your Republican friends were going to vote for Hillary because they couldn’t imagine voting for Trump.”

In the wake of the election, some Jews have sought out synagogues as spaces of refuge and solace. Rabbi Vered Harris, also from Oklahoma City, said a group of parents convened after Hebrew school Wednesday for an impromptu meeting on how to respond to the vote as Jews. Her Thursday Talmud class at the Reform Temple B’nai Israel, which usually draws 10 people, drew twice that number this week.

Harris said that some of her congregants see this Republican victory as different from past ones, alluding to statements Trump has made targeting Mexican immigrants and Muslims, and his campaign's following among white supremacists.

“Everyone who lives in Oklahoma is aware that we are a small-C conservative state, and we have a number of small-C conservative Jews and Republican Jews,” said Harris, differentiating between the Conservative Jewish movement and political conservatism. “At least with the Jewish people I’m interacting with, the upset is not about Republican or Democrat. The upset is about this particular person who is stoking fear.”

Both Harris and Jacobson, however, noted with satisfaction that Oklahoma voters, while supporting Trump, also soundly defeated a ballot measure that would have allowed state money to be used for religious purposes.

Rabbis who said they planned to address the election in Saturday’s sermon emphasized a message of reconciliation, openness and moving forward as a united country. At the Orthodox Etz Chaim Synagogue in Jacksonville, Florida, Rabbi Yaakov Fisch plans to tell congregants that the world, and their lives, are bigger than the 2016 campaign. Trump won Fisch’s Duval County by less than 2 percent of the vote, and he says his synagogue is similarly divided.

“After every significant event, you take a deep breath,” he said. “You take a pause, you move on. There are still going to be stresses in life.”

He added that for those who supported Trump, “We’re not moving into the Garden of Eden, and for the people that view this as catastrophic, the sky's not falling.”

After Trump’s win, Jews in red states feel emboldened, or embattled Read More »