| In This Issue |
- “For the Undecided Jewish Voter”
- Smear of the week: Jesse Jackson on Israel and Zionists
- Backlash Grows Against RJC Smear Ad Campaign
- Rabbi Dobb: Jews, Ecology, and Obama
- Deborah E. Lipstadt Endorses Obama
- “The Great Schlep”
- Obama Campaign Jewish News Roundup
- A Shabbat meditation from the Yom Kippur liturgy
Hey, you! Why haven't you forwarded the Jews for Obama Newsletter to your friends and family? Forwarding the newsletter is the fastest and easiest way you can spread the word about why you support Obama and your friends and family should too. So go ahead, hit the “Forward” button right now! What are you waiting for?
| “For the Undecided Jewish Voter” | [Back to top] |
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| Writer and Obama supporter Dee Axelrod |
Dee is a writer based in the Pacific Northwest. A former senior editor for YES! magazine and the author of numerous articles, she is currently writing a nonfiction book due out in the Fall of 2009. She belongs to a Renewal chavurah, Shir Hayam.
I'm not a representative of any group or organization. No one's asked me to do this. I'm just one Jew who wanted to speak to other Jews.
Felt compelled to do so, actually.
As far as I'm concerned, this is a conversation with you, the person reading this. It's as personal, to me, as if you were in my living room and I had just handed you a cup of tea. It's as intimate as elbows on the kitchen table.
But, as we sit down together, you should know that I have some uncomfortable things to say about Jews and black people. About how I've felt about black people, and how that could play out in the voting booth. If you're a boomer or older, it might ring a bell.
If it does, listen.
| Smear of the week: Jesse Jackson on Israel and Zionists | [Back to top] |
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This smear is absurd at its most basic level, because, as the Obama campaign has noted, Jackson “is not an adviser to the Obama campaign and is therefore in no position to interpret or share Barack Obama's views on Israel and foreign policy. As he has made clear throughout his career and throughout this campaign, Barack Obama has a fundamental commitment to a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.”
For a full response to this smear, please click here. To email this response to friends and family who have send you this smear, click here.
| Backlash Grows Against RJC Smear Ad Campaign | [Back to top] |
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Their goal is to push the lies and distortions that have been used throughout the campaign to scare Jews out of voting for Obama. We thought the smears against Obama were scraping the bottom of the barrel, but these ads proved us wrong; they are truly a new low.
As if the print ads weren't bad enough, the RJC paid “torah.org” to distribute a smear to their email list only a few hours before the start of the Sukkot holiday, a shocking violation of the trust placed in torah.org by its subscribers. This is especially disturbing since torah.org claims that its “program carefully avoids labels and politics.”
Fortunately for those who value the integrity of our political process, there is a growing backlash against the RJC ads, and indeed they may end up having exactly the opposite effect from what the RJC intended. Click here to read about J Street's campaign to expose the lies and distortions and put pressure on Jewish newspapers not to publish them. Visit the Philadelphia Jewish Voice to read about why the RJC ads are detrimental not just to our democracy, but indeed to Jewish unity.
Help stand up for truth and democracy!
- Contact torah.org and let its proprietors know that they crossed the line when they let the RJC send a smear to their email list.
- Visit J Street to help them put a stop to the RJC smear campaign.
- Visit the National Jewish Democratic Council for an overwhelmingly different view of the kind of ads which Jews should be sponsoring during the campaign.
- Forward this newsletter to your friends and family to let them know the truth about these ads.
| Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb on Jews, Ecology, and Obama | [Back to top] |
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| Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb |
By a wide margin, the Obama-Biden ticket best chooses life, by better protecting our sacred, fragile home. With a destabilized global climate, “choosing life” goes way beyond issues of choice and rights — it means taking responsibility for preserving our environment rather than attempting singlemindedly to plunder it. John McCain once seemed to appreciate this responsibility more than many Republicans, but the policies he has espoused during his presidential campaign and his choice of running mate now put him at the back of the pack.
Barack Obama, on the other hand, feels this sense of responsibility in his kishkes; so does Joe Biden. That's why we should choose them.
| Deborah E. Lipstadt Endorses Obama | [Back to top] |
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| Deborah E. Lipstadt |
In her wide-ranging endorsement of Barack Obama, Lipstadt writes that she is “firmly in the Obama/Biden camp... as an American, a woman, and a Jew.” Lipstadt discusses many topics, including: anti-abortion legislation and its potential impact on our ability to follow Jewish law; the relationship between the candidates' proposed policies and the Jewish obligation to give tzedaka; and Obama's solid support for Israel and the confidence in him expressed by Israeli leaders across the political spectrum.
Click here to read Lipstadt's endorsement.
| “The Great Schlep”: Young Jews Win Over Bubbe and Zayde in Florida | [Back to top] |
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The most creative of these ideas may very well be “The Great Schlep”, created by the Jewish Council for Education and Research.
The Great Schlep aims to have Jewish grandchildren visit their grandparents in Florida, educate them about Obama, and thereby swing the crucial Florida vote in his favor. In its kick-off weekend, hundreds of Jews schlepped to Florida.
Visit www.thegreatschlep.com to learn more about how to participate (but be warned: the Sarah Silverman video is for adults only!).
It's important to remember that there are several key battleground states that have large Jewish communities, including Pennsylvania, Ohio, Colorado, and Navada, where the Obama campaign has been working hard to sway Jewish voters. They can use your help in these states, not only in Florida! For more information, contact the campaign's Jewish Outreach team.
| Obama Campaign Jewish News Roundup | [Back to top] |
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This decision led to the cancellation of a debate between an RJC representative, Larry Greenfield, and former Rep. Mel Levine, a Middle East adviser for Obama; this would have been their fourth debate. “My appearing with him gives him a prominence that he doesn't deserve,” Levine said. “The RJC's tactics have been continually dishonest, and the campaign has made a decision to not keep getting on the same stage with them.”
Read more from The Jewish Journal...
In other news, Sen. Hillary Clinton, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Gov. Ed Rendell and other local Jewish lawmakers are all actively stumping for Obama among Philadelphia-area Jewish voters. Read more from JTA...
| A Shabbat meditation from the Yom Kippur liturgy | [Back to top] |
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Out of all the deep reflection of this past month, one moment deserves special emphasis as we face the upcoming 2008 election — a secular event with spiritual implications. As the Yom Kippur morning prayers unfolded, the familiar sounds of meditation building a bridge between our inner selves and God, six verses from the prophetic reading in the book of Isaiah (chapter 58) called out to us:
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5Is such the fast I desire,
A day for men to starve their bodies? Is it bowing the head like a bulrush And lying in sackcloth and ashes? Do you call that a fast, A day when the Lord is favorable? 6No, this is the fast I desire: To unlock the fetters of wickedness, And untie the cords of the yoke To let the oppressed go free; To break off every yoke. 7It is to share your bread with the hungry, And to take the wretched poor into your home; When you see the naked, to clothe him, And not to ignore your own kin. |
8Then shall your light burst through like the dawn
And your healing spring up quickly; Your Vindicator shall march before you, The Presence of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9Then, when you call, the Lord will answer; When you cry, He will say: Here I am. If you banish the yoke from your midst, The menacing hand and evil speech, 10And you offer your compassion to the hungry And satisfy the famished creature — Then shall your light shine in darkness, And your gloom shall be like noonday. |
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