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| Parents of an American/Israel hostage addressing the RNC convention |
Which means they get their values elsewhere - outside the orbit of the authentic and eternal values of the Torah. In our day, the source of those external values are humanistic. And many of these well meaning but ignorant Jews believe those values are Jewish values. When in truth some are and some are not.
It is from their ranks that one will find Jews that believe Israel is irrelevant to being a Jew. And that one does not need to support Israel to be a Jew in good standing. It is from their ranks that one will find Jews joining Palestinian protestors screaming ‘Free Palestine from the river to the sea’. It was this type of Jew that responded negatively to one of the most inspiring moments at the RNC convention. (At least for me.)
A Kipa clad young man was given the podium. From the Jewish Chronicle:
Shabbos Kestenbaum, the Harvard University graduate suing his alma mater for its failures to address campus antisemitism in the wake of October 7, addressed a cheering audience at the Republican National Convention, where the registered Democrat decried the “illiberalism” of one of the US’s most prestigious institutions.
“I came to Harvard to study religion, the foundation of western civilisation,” Kestenbaum said. “What I found was not theology but a contempt for it. My problem with Harvard is not its liberalism, but its illiberalism; too often students at Harvard are taught not how to think, but what to think.”
Kestenbaum energetically told RNC crowds that he is a “proud first-generation American,” a “proud Orthodox Jew,” and the “proud plaintiff suing Harvard University for its failure to combat antisemitism.”
The lawsuit brought about by Kestenbaum and five other Jewish students who sued the university in January helped spur congressional hearings where incisive questions from Republican lawmakers forced the resignation of Harvard President Claudine Gay.
During his speech on Wednesday, Kestenbaum called the culture at Harvard “anti-western,” “anti-American,” and “antisemitic.”
He then described some of the details about what he experienced on campus. He volunteered that he voted for Bernie Sanders and registered as a Democrat as soon as he turned 18 - a party which he said has now become poisoned.. It was a rousing speech that ended with the following:
Kestenbaum said he was “proud” to support former President Donald Trump’s policy to “deport foreign students who violate our laws, harass our Jewish classmates and desecrate our freedoms.”
“Jewish values are American values and American values are Jewish values,” Kestenbaum said, ending his speech with a call for the release of the hostages in Gaza.
For me, it was more about the crowd’s response than it was about those actual words. Which are of course true. They cheered him enthusiastically when he said that.
Which is why I completely reject the notion put forward by a few left wing Jews that the goal of the Republican party is to turn the US to a Christian nation. As I recently pointed out, it already is a Christian nation. The vast majority of the American people are Christians. What it is not is a nation with an official religion like most other countries.
The freedom to worship as one chooses is the cornerstone of our republic. What the Republican party wants is for religion to be restored to its rightful place in society. That is something I agree with. Not that the US must become an official Christian nation. That was not the founders intent. Only a few extremists in the party think it was or should be.
This is why a Kipa wearing Jew who said “Jewish values are American values and American values are Jewish values,” was cheered. Religious values have practically disappeared from American culture. They need to be restored. That is why for example one will find Amicus briefs being filed jointly by Agudah, the Catholic Church and some protestant denominations - on behalf of school choice .
After watching Kestenbaum and seeing the crowd reaction, I never felt prouder to be an American.
This was not the case for Zev Mishell a former classmate of Kestebaum. Mishell called Kestenbaum a liar in so many words and said the Jews in Harvard are doing just fine.
He referred to the two Jewish speakers (which included Matt Brooks, CEO of the Republican Jewish Committee) of being token Jews of a racist party that embraces White Christin Nationalism. Which would make Jews, people of color, and people of other religions second class citizens.
What is Mishell’s idea of expressing the ideals of Judaism? The following might provide a hint about where - in their infinite stupidity - his head and the heads of his fellow travelers are at:
Many students belong to a non-Zionist Jewish community at the school called Jews for Liberation, which is part of a growing movement of on-campus independent Jewish communities that reject the conflation of Jewishness with Zionism and work outside of Hillel or Chabad to provide spiritual care.
Getting educated about Judaism from Harvard Divinity School would be the same as getting educated about the Theory of Evolution as the Origin of Species at Ponevezh. To say Mishell’s values are bereft of any significant Jewish content would be the understatement of the century. Despite any protestations he might have to the contrary. If on the other hand he has had some sort of legitimate religious education in his past, he has clearly abandoned it. Which would make his embrace of the Palestinian narrative even more troubling!
Sadly there are far too many well meaning Jews that read garbage like his and buy into it to one degree or another. Especially the part about the Republican party now becoming the party of White Christian Nationlism.
That may be true for some of the more extreme members of the party. Like Marjorie Taylor-Greene. But the cheers Kestenbaum got were spontaneous and real. When a hostage family from Israel addressed the convention and started chanting ‘Bring them home’ the crowd started chanting it along with them. That was real. This was the first time that the CEO of the Republican Jewish Committee was invited to speak at an RNC convention. That was real. The concern over antisemitism on campus - that was real,too.
Most of the people that attended the convention just want religion to be part of the American culture again. They want those values restored. While they are certainly mostly proud Christians, they do not require it of anyone in order to be a full fledged American in good standing. That is how I felt after watching Kestenbaum, Brooks, and the hostage family speak.
I have no clue what the DNC convention will be like other than a Harris lovefest. There will surely be some Jewish speakers. Not that I expect any of them to speak about their Judaism much - if at all. In any event I doubt I will be as inspired by any of them the way I was by Kestenbaum.