Opinion –  Haaretz August 23, 2020 – by Eric H. Yoffie

Under Donald Trump, America is a failed state. It’s no accident that anti-Semitism is at its highest levels since World War II. Against such a contemptuous president, U.S. Jews will back Biden in record numbers

The Democratic party convention is over. My take-away is a simple one: In November, American Jews will be voting for Joe, and in record numbers.  

In the 2016 election, 71 percent of the U.S. Jewish community voted for Clinton, and 23 percent voted for Trump. My guess is that this time around, Joe Biden will do substantially better, perhaps breaking all previous records for Jewish votes received by a candidate for president.  

Part of the reason is the Democrats did an impressive job in presenting the first social-media convention in America’s history. The convention was not really a convention at all, but a carefully planned mixture of live presentations and videos, filmed in every state of the Union. Absent the drama and the tumult of a large, in-person meeting, and given the possibility of technical glitches, it was initially unclear how all of this would work.  

But while some of the sizzle of the traditional convention was missing, the virtual version succeeded remarkably well in conveying the Democratic message and in personalizing Joe Biden. 

Speeches were shorter and more focused than usual. Average Americans spoke frequently and movingly of their pain in difficult times and of their admiration for the candidate. And Biden came across as what he mostly is: a decent, regular guy who has overcome personal tragedy multiple times, has a plan for the future, and cares about working Americans.  The Republicans, of course, will try to do the same with their man. Yet what was possible with the amiable Joe Biden will be far more challenging with the belligerent, vituperative, and often menacing Donald Trump. 

But the majority of Americans, Jews most definitely included, are getting profoundly weary of the president’s snarling persona.  

Professor Louis Menand, writing in The New Yorker, wisely noted that “voters get tired of one-trick ponies.” This was true of Joseph McCarthy, he suggested, and is true of Donald Trump as well.  

And he’s right. While much of any political convention is political rhetoric and show business, the prominence at the Democratic convention of regular people just trying to live their lives gave this event a different dimension. And what we saw was that these people, clearly sincere and speaking in their own words, had had enough. Beaten down by the pandemic, rising joblessness, and record inequality, they have lost patience with the “Fake News/They’re Out To Get Me” bellowing of the president.

True, in 2016 Trump managed to convince 63 million Americans, suspicious of elites and tired of establishment neglect, that he was on their side. And yes, at the beginning there was something weirdly fascinating about his outrageous mendacity, his endless stream of Twitter lies, and his disregard of constitutional constraints. But Americans assumed that this was a sideshow put on for their benefit, and that, sooner rather than later, a plan or a program to help them would emerge.

But that never happened, of course.  And now, as millions of people lose their health insurance and bodies pile up from Covid-19, all that Americans are left with is deadly incompetence, obscene dishonesty, and pervasive corruption. More and more of them no longer believe that Trump is on their side, and his threats and bullying generate mostly exhaustion and disgust.

And where do the Jews fit in?   

American Jews share the moral revulsion of most Americans at Trump’s actions and personal conduct. In the words of Michelle Obama, they yearn for a president with a “moral compass,” especially if they are conversant with the moral commands of the Jewish tradition. And that is why Biden will do so well in winning Jewish votes.  

But there is more to it than that. There are specific Jewish interests at stake here. There is an unmistakable whiff of danger to Jews in what is happening in America, and Jewish antennae, always sensitive to potential threats, are up.

As a community, American Jews are classical liberals. They value stability and social cohesion. They worry about serious poverty and deep inequality among their fellow citizens. They know that tumultuous times, economic instability, and social tension inevitably lead to social unrest — and ultimately to anti-Semitism.  

America now is a deeply divided society and more unequal economically than it has been in almost a century. In many ways, it is simply a failed state. In President Trump, Jews see a president who fosters division, thrives on disunity, and has failed to protect the American people against illness and financial ruin. And even if he wanted to solve America’s problems, he would be unable to do so. As things get worse, he gets meaner and angrier, careening between inaction and ineptitude.

Jews in America, to put it plainly, are at risk. It is not an accident that anti-Semitism at this moment is at its highest levels since World War II.

Jews are a small minority in America, but a successful minority.  They are among the “haves” at a time when the “have nots” are growing in number and increasingly desperate. And Jews know that they will only be safe in a society where people have work and feel secure, where they can feed their children and see a doctor, and where a safety net is something that really keeps you safe. And if creating such a society means that many Jews — and others who can afford it — pay higher taxes, so be it; for American Jews, to do so is both moral and necessary.

Joe Biden could provide the leadership necessary to create such a society. He has the qualifications, as the convention again demonstrated, and Jewish Americans hope that he will do so. What they are certain of is that Donald Trump will not.  Donald Trump is not an anti-Semite. It is important to be clear about that. But it is equally clear that he is incapable of creating the kind of country in which Jewish Americans can be confident of their community’s well-being.  

And it is clear as well that despite living in New York City his whole life, and having a Jewish daughter, Trump frequently displays an attitude toward Jews that is awkward at best and sneering and even contemptuous at worst.

Other than his remarks on Charlottesville’s neo-Nazis, his most remembered comment relating to American Jews is his observation in 2019 that “any Jewish people that vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty.” Disloyalty to America? To the Jewish people? To Israel?

He didn’t say, and it hardly matters. His words were appallingly ignorant and offensive to Jews of every persuasion and outlook. The only reason that they are not mentioned more frequently is that Trump’s public discourse is filled with a seemingly endless series of such comments. But it is hard to find much comfort in the fact that insults, baseless accusations, and misinformation are simply a part of his character, whether referencing Jews or somebody else.  

And finally: What about his support for Israel?  

Jewish Trump supporters argue that Trump’s backing for Israel justifies setting aside other indications of the president’s shortcomings and unfitness for office. This assumption, of course, is highly questionable, as even many in the Orthodox world have come to realize.  

But with regard to the specifics of Trump’s Israel policy, there are three things that need to be said. First, President Trump deserves thanks and praise for a number of steps he has taken, including supporting Israel at the United Nations, moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, and facilitating normalization of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates. Credit where credit is due.

Second, Trump’s approach to Israel must be seen in the context of his overall foreign policy, which is a chaotic and unpredictable disaster. An isolationist, unilateralist and America Firster, Trump has withdrawn from a long list of treaties and alliances, failed to respond to Russian provocations, and is friendlier to Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin than to our democratic allies.  

When you add his handling of Covid-19 to everything else he has done in the foreign policy realm, what you have is the indisputable fact that America has become a laughing stock in the world.

Third, and most important, is that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are a dream team when it comes to support for Israel. Both are strong, reliable friends of the Jewish state. Both are sensible centrists who would rebuild support for Israel as a bipartisan cause. Both back a two-state solution, which is the consensus position of the American Jewish community. Pushing radical and anti-Israel voices to the margins, Biden made certain that the Democratic platform reflects his own moderation and love for the Jewish state.

In the short term, any American president will be focusing on domestic concerns, but Biden understands the world in a way that Trump never will. Who will do the best job in restoring American credibility, American alliances, and American standing in the world? And if Israel is truly threatened, who will ultimately be the best and most reliable defender of the Jewish state? To both questions, the answer is Joe Biden.

In short, Israel is not a reason to support Donald Trump. It is yet another reason to embrace Joe Biden.

With one convention over and another getting underway, my prediction is: Biden will get 80-85 percent of the Jewish vote. And he will deserve it.

Eric H. Yoffie, a rabbi, writer and teacher in Westfield, New Jersey, is a former president of the Union for Reform Judaism. Twitter: @EricYoffie

I’ve been feeling an increasingly higher level of anxiety as the 2020 election approaches. I sense I’m not alone.

On the one hand, I believe that a fair election will result in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris becoming President and Vice President and more Democrats becoming House and Senate members signaling the beginning of the end of our national nightmare.

On the other hand, I know that Trump and his Republican sycophants will do everything they can to steal this election from the American people.

Thirty years ago I began collecting quotations from Jewish and world literature on a wide variety of themes. This past week I looked at what I collected specifically on the themes of “anxiety,” “fear,” and “despair.” Here are a few statements that offered a measure of wisdom, perspective, and hope:

 “The world is a very narrow bridge; the important thing is not to be afraid.” —Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (Ukraine, 1772-1810)

“The only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” —President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945)

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’” —Eleanor Roosevelt (1884-1962)

“There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.” —Epictetus (1^st-2^nd Century AD Greek Stoic philosopher)

“Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows, but only empties today of its strength.” —Charles Spurgeon (19^th century English Baptist Preacher)

“Nothing diminishes anxiety faster than action.” —Walter Anderson (20^th century American painter and writer)

“You cannot always control what goes on outside, but you can always control what goes on inside.” —Wayne Dyer (20^th-21^st century American author and motivational speaker)

“Do what you can, with what you’ve got, where you are.” —President Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

“Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it.” —Dorothy M. Neddermeyer (20^th-21^st century psychotherapist)

“Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson (American essayist and philosopher, 1803-1882)

“Calm mind brings inner strength and self-confidence, so that’s very important for good health.” —The Dalai Lama (1935- )

“Present fears are less than horrible imaginings.” —William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

“There are moments when all anxiety and stated toil are becalmed in the infinite leisure and repose of nature.” —Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

 “What else does anxiety about the future bring you but sorrow upon sorrow?” —Thomas á Kempis (14^th-15^th century Dutch-German author)

“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” —Reinhold Niebuhr (American theologian and ethicist, 1892-1971)

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” —Lao Tzu (6^th century BCE Chinese philosopher)

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.” —Maya Angelou (American poet and civil rights activist, 1928-2014)

 “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” —Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

“If you can’t fly, run. If you can’t run, walk. If you can’t walk, crawl, but by all means, keep moving.” —Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)

“America must not become a nation of onlookers. America must not remain silent. Not merely black America, but all of America. It must speak up and act … for the sake of the image, the idea and the aspiration of America itself…When I was the rabbi of the Jewish community in Berlin under the Hitler regime, I learned … under those tragic circumstances that bigotry and hatred is not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful, and the most tragic problem is silence.” —Rabbi Joachim Prinz (German-American Rabbi, 1902-1988; words he spoke on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, 1963 March on Washington)

“It’s forbidden to despair… Remember: Things can go from the very worst to the very best…in just the blink of an eye.” —Rabbi Nachman of Breslov (Ukraine, 1772-1810)

“If you’re going through Hell, keep going.” —Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

 “When I despair, I remember that all through history the way of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fail.” —Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948)

“Part of being optimistic is keeping one’s head pointed toward the sun, one’s feet moving forward. There were many dark moments when my faith in humanity was sorely tested, but I would not give myself up to despair. That way lays defeat and death.” —Nelson Mandela (1918-2013)

“Get in good trouble, necessary trouble…Do not get lost in a sea of despair.” —Congressman John Lewis (1940-2020)

“The line of progress is never straight.” (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

In reading Ron Chernow’s formidable biography of Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), it’s remarkable to consider these past 155 years since the Civil War and know, on the one hand, how much the United States has changed for the better, and on the other, how much some Americans have not changed at all. The racism, hate, and suppression of former slaves that provoked the secession of the South from the Union and the resulting Civil War are still present in the hearts and minds of far too many Americans.

Frederick Douglas regarded President Grant as the greatest friend to black Americans of any President to that point in American history, including Abraham Lincoln. But, it took far more than one President’s support and advocacy to turn the tide of history from brutal enslavement to freedom and equality. As much as Grant advocated on behalf of the rights, safety, and well-being of the 4 million former black slaves, the South reversed the gains made in the Civil War and during Reconstruction until the 1960s’ civil rights movement. Through whipping, shooting, wounding, maiming, mutilation, and the murder of black women, children, and defenseless men, white supremacists led by the Ku Klux Klan (founded in 1865) did everything possible to terrorize black Americans and create an Apartheid-like South.

As I waded through this 959-page presidential biography, I gained a sense of Grant’s heart, soul, mind, character, dignity, and leadership, his strengths and weaknesses, successes and failures. He was an uncommon president, perhaps one of the greatest in American history. A graduate of West Point and a veteran of the Mexican wars, Grant was modest, quiet, and innately intelligent. His calm demeanor, strategic mind, and dogged determination inspired millions of Union troops during the Civil War including President Lincoln himself, America as a whole, and most international leaders in the last third of the 19^th century.

Following President Andrew Johnson’s short term of office after Lincoln’s assassination, the Radical abolitionist Republican Party clamored for the heroic but hesitant Major General Ulysses S. Grant to run for President in 1868. He did so less from ego than a sense of duty winning comfortably both the popular vote and Electoral College. Grant’s political naiveté, however, made it difficult for him to cope effectively over two terms (1869-1877) with a scandal-ridden Washington, D.C. political culture and the violent resistance to Reconstruction by southern white Democrats. Yet, his accomplishments were significant including support for and advocacy of the 13^th, 14^th, and 15^th Amendments to the Constitution respectively outlawing slavery, granting citizenship to all born and naturalized persons, and securing the right to vote for all citizens of the United States – women’s suffrage would come on August 18, 1920 almost exactly a century ago.

One can’t help but compare the Obama and Trump years to Lincoln’s and Grant’s successes and reversals of fortune. Whereas Presidents Lincoln and Grant were tenacious, visionary, and of common moral cause in keeping the Union whole and bringing freedom and equality de jure to all Americans (including Native Americans and Jews), their legacy was undone to a great extent by racist, intolerant, and violent Southern State thugs and Northern racists.

Whereas the Obama-Biden administration brought back economic stability, expanded health care, sought greater equity for all Americans, promoted environmental responsibility, and engaged constructively in international agreements in their two terms, the Trump-Pence Administration has sought to undo and undermine most of the Obama-Biden accomplishments in just shy of 4 years.  

Today’s Trump Republican Party, of course, bears little resemblance to the 19^th century Republican Party of Lincoln and Grant. Whereas President Grant sought to expand citizenship and voting rights in fair and free elections for every born and naturalized American citizen, Trump’s Republican Party openly disdains expansive voting rights and an inclusive democracy, albeit far less violently than the 19^th century South.

Ron Chernow’s biography Grant (publ. 2017) is a tour de force in research and writing and well worth the time to read especially for those who value history but know little about President Grant, the Civil War, his hopes for Reconstruction, and its chaotic and violent aftermath.

I was playing with our 19 month-old grand-daughter Violet when my wife told me that Kamala Harris was Joe Biden’s choice as Vice President.

I am thrilled as a white American man, a Jew, and a grandfather of a beautiful little girl whose first political memory is likely to be that a Black/Asian woman is Vice President and may well be President of the United States. I am so excited for Violet, for all of us, and for all the little girls in our nation and around the world who will know that Kamala Harris has broken the ultimate glass ceiling.

Yes, her selection is symbolic – but Kamala is also highly competent, smart, wise, seasoned, and a great candidate. I have no doubts that she will be a great VP.

Granted, Kamala is not yet elected, but I believe the election was decided on Tuesday, unless Trump steals it – and that remains a deep worry. That being said, I’m an optimist, and I believe that come January 20 we will have a President Joe Biden, a Vice President Kamala Harris, an expanded majority in the House, and a majority in the Senate.

To most of the nation, Trump has shown through his negative and toxic example how important ethical and competent American leadership really is, how critical the President’s understanding of American and world history and the US Constitution must be, and what America actually stands for – justice, compassion, forward thinking, and peace between the peoples of a diverse nation.

In a time when joy and optimism have been very hard to come by, Joe has infused his campaign and the country with much of both. I say to Uncle Joe – “Thank You and Let’s Go!”

PS – Get everyone you know to register to vote and vote early!

In the past month, two events rocked the Jewish world and challenged the liberal American Jewish relationship to Zionism and the State of Israel.

Peter Beinart, a long-time supporter of the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, articulated in a long essay in Jewish Currents and in an op-ed in the New York Times why he now believes that a two-state solution is dead. Instead, he advocates for one democratic state in which the Jewish and the Palestinian peoples can live equally in their respective national homes in what he calls “Israel-Palestine.”

Seth Rogen, the American Jewish film-maker and comedian, in an interview with Marc Maron on his podcast in advance of the release of Rogen’s film “An American Pickle,” reflects the conflicted state of his own Jewish identity and many in his generation vis a vis antisemitism, Jews, and Israelis.

Whereas Peter Beinart is a highly educated and informed Jewish intellectual and journalist, Seth Rogen, though growing up in a Vancouver Jewish Day School and a left-wing Habonim Dror summer camp, seems not to understand what Israel and Israelis are really all about, what Jewish peoplehood means today, and why a Jewish State in all its complexity is a miracle in 2000 years of Jewish history.

The tragedy of Covid-19, the historic economic collapse, massive unemployment, racial divisions, and the charged American presidential race have consumed so much of our energy and attention these past 6 months. Few American Jews except those who are most passionately pro-Zionist and pro-Israel aren’t thinking much about Israel these days. Perhaps, this is an opportunity with so much time on our hands for us American Jews to deepen our knowledge and understanding of Zionism, Israel, and Palestine.

To that end, I’ve compiled a list of volumes that educate and enlighten the history of the Jewish State, the Zionist dream, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. These volumes explain why a Jewish state matters so much to the Jewish people, and why a two-state solution is the only viable option for peace, security, and justice for both Jews and Palestinians.  

For the list of 26 outstanding volumes, see my blog at the Times of Israel – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/zionism-israel-and-the-palestinians-book-recommendations/

“The two-state idea is comatose until Trump is gone, and Netanyahu is gone, and Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the Palestinian Authority, is gone — and then some. But it is no more “impossible” than was the fall of the Berlin Wall or the disappearance of the Soviet Union. “There is a distinction between a coma and being dead,” Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president of the nonprofit advocacy group J Street, told me.”

Roger Cohen’s op-ed (NYT July 31, 2020) is an important piece. If you are not yet persuaded that a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is more possible than a one-state solution (per Peter Beinart) then Roger will persuade you that 2-states is and must be for the sake of both the Jewish people and the Palestinians.

The recent interview with Seth Rogen on the podcast “WTF with Marc Maron” was intended to promote Rogen’s new film, “An American Pickle.” However, Rogen’s comments about Israel and what he learned in religious school and left-wing Zionist summer camp upset a lot of American Jews and Israelis while reflecting the conundrum of millennial and boomer American Jews in our relationship with the Jewish State.

I offer a response to Seth and others in the millennial generation as well as Generation X, Z and Baby Boomers in my blog at the Times of Israel.

See – https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/a-response-to-seth-rogen-2/

In my former blog-post “The Simple Act of Voting will Determine the Election on November 3rd,” I indicated dates for mailing vote-by-mail ballots for the November 3, 2020 election that are incorrect. Please look at this site for the correct information:

https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/vote-mail/vbm-nov2020-general-election/#vote-by-mail

Note as well that the Trump administration’s cynical efforts to disrupt mail delivery through the United States Postal Service (already happening) needs to be watched carefully going forward. If matters to not improve, it is possible to fill out and sign your vote-by-mail ballots and deliver them personally to your polling place on November 3 without necessarily having to wait in line. That way, at the least, you will know that your vote will be counted.

If you forwarded my earlier blog to friends, please forward this one as well. Thanks and apologies.