The campaign is heating up, and you need to stay informed! The Jews for Obama Newsletter gives you the information you need to stay in the loop and keep winning over your friends and family to supporting Obama.
Senator Barack Obama is scheduled to travel on a fact-finding mission to Europe and the Middle East starting this weekend.
Obama's European itinerary is expected to include a visit to Berlin, a meeting in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and a meeting in London with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
In the Middle East, Obama is expected to meet with leaders of Iraq and Afghanistan, although the details have been kept under wraps for security reasons. Obama will also meet with Jordan's King Abdullah in Amman.
But the busiest segment of Obama's trip will be in Israel, where he is expected to meet with President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, and the head of the opposition Likud party, Benjamin Netanyahu. In addition, it is anticipated that he will visit the beleaguered town of Sderot as well as sites in Jerusalem including the Western Wall.
Obama is also scheduled to meet during his trip with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah. Senator John McCain has previously spoken with President Abbas by telephone but has never met with him in person.
Rabbi
Bernard H. Mehlman, one of the most respected Rabbis in New England,
is the Emeritus Rabbi of Temple Israel of Brookline and Professor of Midrash
at New York's >Hebrew
Union College. He spoke at the July 11th meeting of the Obama
Jewish Community Leadership Committee of New England and has kindly
allowed Jews4Obama to publish his remarks:
As a Jewish American, I am deeply disturbed by the direction in which our country has moved under the Bush/Cheney Administration. The election of Barack Obama is of critical importance because:
- We stand on the threshold of change in our Supreme Court.
- Barack Obama represents the best hope for the resolution of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
- Barack Obama brings a different foreign policy, that peace is made with enemies, and that therefore, in order to implement a peace settlement, we must sit down and speak with our enemies.
- Barak Obama supports a woman's right to choice, as do the overwhelming majority of progressive American Jews.
Read Rabbi Mehlman's full statement...
On July 16, Senator Barack Obama released the following statement on the prisoner exchange between Israel and Hezbollah:
Chicago, IL — “Today the people of Israel received confirmation of the deaths of two of their bravest sons, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev. Since their capture by Hezbollah terrorists in 2006, we have all held out the hope that they were still alive and would be coming home to their families, who campaigned so heroically across the world for their return. I was honored to meet last year with Ehud's wife Karnit and his mother Miki, who were visiting Washington on behalf of the Goldwasser, Regev, and Shalit families, and I offered them my hope and prayers and help. Today, Michelle and I offer the Goldwasser and Regev families our deepest condolences on their loss, a tragedy no family should have to bear. In their time of extraordinary grief, an entire nation and friends throughout our country and around the world mourn with them. As they fought so hard for their loved ones' freedom, let us all reaffirm our commitment to win the freedom of the lone remaining Israeli soldier held captive by terrorists, Gilad Shalit, so that his family can be spared this pain and welcome him back into their arms.”
Senator John McCain has not issued a statement about the prisoner exchange and could not be reached for comment.
Senator McCain does not consider support for Israel important enough to warrant a position statement on his Web site. In contrast, Senator Obama's position statement, which makes clear his strong support for Israel, has been available on his Web site since the start of his campaign. Why won't Senator McCain join Senator Obama in making his position on Israel clear?
Last
week, something amazing happened. We reduced Obama's 40-minute AIPAC
video down to a 15-minute condensed version on our REACT! blog, with a
“send again” button inside!
Youtube reports that, during the last week, this abridged version was viewed 3 times as often as an excerpt of the full video was viewed in a month! That's like a 12X gain for a 33% price cut!
So this week, we are launching a 6:13 minute condensed version. And we are going to try something new: A DVD, not available on Youtube.
Not only will our volunteers hand them out for free at JCLC events, but you can order one with a chai pittance to cover the copy and mailing cost. But we don't want your money. So, if you have a computer with a DVD-RW drive, you can download the ISO file and the cover art and print up your own DVD in a few minutes,even using free DVD burning software. You can even print labels. You can even take the ISO file and the Label files, and find a print-shop in town to make you 100 copies to give out yourself!
Why are we doing this? We have all run into relatives and friends, Intelligent, Thoughful, people, who have somehow become convinced that Obama is some kind of “Manjewrian Candidate.” He was born 12 years after the founding of Israel, and while pretending to live in Hawaii, was substituted with a Body Double, and programmed by East German Olympic coaches at a Chinese Circus school, raised on mental steroids to be so the Tiger Woods of Politics, a man so brilliant at lying that he could win the US Presidency, and when he does, it was all JUST to destroy Israel!!!
The Barack Mitzvah is this: Don't fight. Don't call them crazy. Sit down with that person. Ask them if they would spend 6 minutes and 13 seconds with you. That's the number of Mitzvot in the Torah. Tell them you have some different footage from Obama's speech to AIPAC. Insert the DVD and watch it with them. Discuss. Then send an email back to BarackMitzvah@Jews4Obama.com describing your experience together.
“As American Jews, we declare our
support for Barack Obama, the Democratic Candidate for
President.”
You've already signed. Now what can you do? Send 18 of your friends the link to sign our statement. Once we cross 10,000, we will have the critical mass to begin coordinating groups of volunteers to run local signed advertisements, which will further bring our Jews For Obama community together. Click here to invite up to 18 friends to sign!
Jews for Obama will soon be actively coordinating with other Jewish Organizations (such as the National Jewish Democratic Council) to work on Getting Out the Jewish Vote for Obama.
If you wish to participate, even for a very limited amount of time, as feet on the ground, a voice on the phone, an envelope stuffer, etc., please send the following information to yiddishemama@jewsforobama.com:
- Where would you be able to work? (City and State)
- What's the best way to contact you? (e.g., include email address, phone number, or both)
We look forward to hearing from you!
Think everybody knows that Barack Obama isn't really a Muslim? Well, think again!
Earlier this week, there was an enormous debate about the New Yorker magazine cover that depicted Barack Obama as a Muslim. Unfortunately, the point of the cover was lost in the fray: many people in this country erroneously believe that Obama is Muslim.
This video, made by comedian Mendy Pellin, shows this phenomenon live on the street in New York City.
Don't assume that your friends and family know the basic facts about Obama — ask them what they know about him, and fill them in on the truth, which is that Obama's religious home environment was defined by his mother's broad ranging and somewhat agnostic spirituality, and he became a Christian as an adult.
Obama he is a strong supporter of Israel and has clearly stated many times that he holds Israel's security to be sacrosanct. Pass the word!