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| Right wing former US Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman (JTA) |
…worried the religiously Orthodox and politically right-wing parts of American Jewry will be overrepresented — as they were after the last election — and add the large Israeli bloc that already leans that way.
That concern was added to his concern about Christian influence over his organization. Which as a Jewish organization it ought to be free of.
I would of course agree with him if he means it in any kind of exclusively Christian theological sense. Israel is a Jewish state and it ought to be governed solely by Jewish principles. But that is not what he meant. Which is made somewhat obvious by his objection to the influence of religiously Orthodox Jews. As if to say that being an observant Jew is somehow as detrimental to the very character of a Jewish state as being an Evangelical would be. Neither of which is true.
How sad it is that anyone calling themselves a Jew can find fault with people dedicated to the very essence of Judaism. A Judaism defined by the very document that created us as a people and tells us how to be Jews.
To Mr. Hess,
the only Judaism that matters is the one that leans left – as does the Conservative
movement that he is affiliated with.
The Christian influence he is really worried about is pretty much the same as the Jewish influence he is worried about. Which is anything to his right politically or religiously. The conventional wisdom of the left is that their progressive views is what Judaism is really all about. And that the religious right are just a bunch of extremists that cause great harm to the soul of the Jewish people. (As if his progressive views define that soul.) This is what disturbs him.
So when a group of Evangelical Christians come along and want to influence the vote along a more right wing trek, it is considered Christian influence. But it is no more Christian influence than the influence of right wing Religious Zionist settler Jews.
They may be extreme in their actions. But they are Orthodox who believe what every other Orthodox Jew believes. Which is that the land of Israel (all of it – from the river to the sea) belongs to the Jewish people. That is one thing Evangelical Christians and all Orthodox Jews have in common. We believe that because the bible tells us so. Many times. The only differences among Orthodox Jews are what to do about it under current conditions. Those differences vary - and in some cases are extreme and of existential concern. But the belief about who owns the land is identical. Which is the same view Evangelical Christians have. The Jewish people own the land.
That believing Christians want to influence the WZO elections towards that theology is something we should not be concerned about. On the contrary. It is something we should welcome. I would by far prefer that kind of influence in the WZO over a progressive influence that pushes a DEI agenda and ignores - if not outright rejects the Torah values that don’t fit into that agenda. Besides getting their support does not mean giving them the right to vote. WZO rules regarding eligibility to vote are as follows:
(Voters) will have to affirm that they are Zionist, Jewish, and that they “do not subscribe to another religion.
So we’re only talking about influence, anyway. Not actual votes.
And finally - to those who worry about a hidden agenda based on end-times theology let me reiterate what I have said many times. That Evangelicals have an end-times theology radically different than ours doesn’t matter. Because when that time comes, the truth will come out for the entire world to see.