More specifically, with respect to politics. My understanding is that most American Jews are liberal. What divides a Norman Podhoretz or a Ben Shapiro from the rest of American Jews?
Yes, this is a really interesting question and one I think about all the time since IтАЩm very conservative and I wish more of my coreligionists agreed with me. I do think thereтАЩs been some big changes over the last few decades and the trends seem to favor a political shift on the horizon. To your specific question, in my opinion (which is the best I can offer) I find that Jews who (a) actually know something about real Judaism and (b) take it seriously, are almost always politically conservative. Basically for the same reasons that the same tends to be true for Christians. (I also come from a military family which goes a long way to explaining my politics.) Both Podhoretz and Shapiro were raised Orthodox and have traditional Jewish educations and values, all of which tends naturally to lead to political conservatism because they care about things like basic morality, traditional families, governmental restraint, and respect for religious belief. Orthodox Jews were also fiercely anti-communist and anti-Soviet, which pushed them to the political right in America.
But historically in America, Orthodox Jews -- and by extension politically conservative Jews -- have been in the minority.
I wonтАЩt bore you with a long spiel about why I think thatтАЩs the case, but suffice to say that as Jews who immigrated to America were free for basically the first time in history to participate fully in secular society, their kids abandoned traditional Judaism and in its place embraced the political ideologies of the other people around them -- urban northeast liberals for the most part. And that has been the situation in America for the last 50 years or so.
But I see a generational shift coming. Liberal hostility to Israel is becoming a serious wedge that is driving Jews out of the left political coalition. The northeast democrats are basically drumming Jews out of the party because they perceive an insuperable conflict between Jews and Blacks, and since there are far, far more Black voters, the Jews inevitably have to lose that fight. At the same time, the Orthodox Jewish population in the US is the fastest growing denomination of Jews. Demography is inexorable. I wouldnтАЩt be surprised if 20 years from today, US Jews were roughly split around 50/50 between the Dems and Republicans, with the trends leading to a majority of Jews being conservative.
Gosh there are so many to choose from, internal divides are kind of our thing.
More specifically, with respect to politics. My understanding is that most American Jews are liberal. What divides a Norman Podhoretz or a Ben Shapiro from the rest of American Jews?
Yes, this is a really interesting question and one I think about all the time since IтАЩm very conservative and I wish more of my coreligionists agreed with me. I do think thereтАЩs been some big changes over the last few decades and the trends seem to favor a political shift on the horizon. To your specific question, in my opinion (which is the best I can offer) I find that Jews who (a) actually know something about real Judaism and (b) take it seriously, are almost always politically conservative. Basically for the same reasons that the same tends to be true for Christians. (I also come from a military family which goes a long way to explaining my politics.) Both Podhoretz and Shapiro were raised Orthodox and have traditional Jewish educations and values, all of which tends naturally to lead to political conservatism because they care about things like basic morality, traditional families, governmental restraint, and respect for religious belief. Orthodox Jews were also fiercely anti-communist and anti-Soviet, which pushed them to the political right in America.
But historically in America, Orthodox Jews -- and by extension politically conservative Jews -- have been in the minority.
I wonтАЩt bore you with a long spiel about why I think thatтАЩs the case, but suffice to say that as Jews who immigrated to America were free for basically the first time in history to participate fully in secular society, their kids abandoned traditional Judaism and in its place embraced the political ideologies of the other people around them -- urban northeast liberals for the most part. And that has been the situation in America for the last 50 years or so.
But I see a generational shift coming. Liberal hostility to Israel is becoming a serious wedge that is driving Jews out of the left political coalition. The northeast democrats are basically drumming Jews out of the party because they perceive an insuperable conflict between Jews and Blacks, and since there are far, far more Black voters, the Jews inevitably have to lose that fight. At the same time, the Orthodox Jewish population in the US is the fastest growing denomination of Jews. Demography is inexorable. I wouldnтАЩt be surprised if 20 years from today, US Jews were roughly split around 50/50 between the Dems and Republicans, with the trends leading to a majority of Jews being conservative.