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May 13, 2005/Iyar 4 5765, Volume 57, No. 37
Powerful lobbyist falling from grace
MATTHEW E. BERGER
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
WASHINGTON - Jack Abramoff made a name for himself in the Washington political world as an insider with strong ties to Republican circles of power.
But within Washington's Jewish world, Abramoff cut an image as a lone ranger, someone who shunned the organized Jewish community and chose to create his own Jewish institutions to serve his needs.
Several of them quickly failed.
That hasn't kept Abramoff, who is Orthodox, from turning to Judaism to explain allegations that he overcharged Indian tribes for lobbying services and used his ties to House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) and other Republican lawmakers to advance his personal interests.
Abramoff is at the eye of a gathering ethical storm over allegations that a number of congressmen - most prominent among them DeLay - accepted gifts and favors from him.
In a New York Times interview, Abramoff was quoted comparing himself to the biblical character Jacob, saying that his involvement in the rough and tumble of lobbying - with his attendant use of shocking and abusive language, revealed in e-mails leaked to The Washington Post - was similar to the incident in which the biblical patriarch took on the identity of his brother, Esau.
In response to questions from JTA, a spokesman for Abramoff said his client had been misquoted in the Times' article and never compared himself to any biblical figure.
Abramoff's "political activities, like everything in his life, were informed by his religious beliefs," the spokesman told JTA. "While he did not always meet the standard of his faith, he certainly aspired to do so."
Few in the Jewish community are concerned that the scandal surrounding Abramoff will reflect poorly on the Jewish community and its ties with conservative Republicans. Lawmakers and other power brokers know Abramoff is Jewish but don't lump him in with the organized Jewish world.
"This is not a Jewish issue predominantly," one Jewish political insider said. "He doesn't have his yarmulke on when he's meeting with people."
Newsweek has reported that the FBI is investigating whether he funneled funds from the Capital Athletic Foundation, a charity he established to support sports programs for urban youth, to West Bank settlers threatened by Palestinian terrorism.
Overall, however, Abramoff was seen as a Republican with pure conservative bona fides who did not specialize in Jewish issues or link his influence to Jewish or Israeli causes.
Sources close to Abramoff said his conservative religious values helped him bond with DeLay and other Christian conservatives.
"Anyone who knows him knows his Jewish connections are deep and real," one Abramoff associate said. "These things resonated deeply with a lot of powerful political people on the right wing of the Republican political spectrum."
At a time when his influence was growing in Washington, Abramoff shunned offers to get involved with Jewish groups. Instead, he became renowned as the owner and operator of Stacks and Archives, which were the only two kosher restaurants in the nation's capitol before they closed last year.
"Stacks became almost like the unofficial lunchroom for Jewish Washington and its colleagues," said Rabbi Levi Shemtov, Washington director of American Friends of Lubavitch, who said he dined at the deli frequently.
Archives, a fine dining establishment, was above the deli but never stayed open for more than a few weeks at a time. Both restaurants occupied prime real estate on Pennsylvania Avenue, across from the National Archives.
Opening the restaurants fit the Abramoff approach: He saw a personal need he had in Washington - kosher dining - and used his own money to make it happen.
He did the same thing in 2002 when he opened the Eshkol Academy, a Jewish day school that grew out of the home schooling he provided for his own children and like-minded families in suburban Maryland.
"He felt people had to make too much of an extreme choice" between a thorough religious education and quality secular teaching, and he wanted an integrated program that stressed both, said Rabbi David Lapin, who helped found and run the school.
Abramoff knew he would have to take a loss on the school for several years, but he was overwhelmed by the cost, Lapin said. He added that Abramoff didn't get help from the Jewish community.
The school closed in May 2004, two weeks before the end of the school year. Thirteen former employees sued Abramoff, demanding nearly $150,000 in back salary.
As more is learned of Abramoff, it may become harder to separate the religious man from the political man. Recent profiles noted that he became more religiously observant after seeing "Fiddler on the Roof" when he was 12, and that e-mails filled with expletives and derogatory terms for Native Americans still referenced God with a hyphen instead of the middle letter.
Abramoff says his current environment is reminiscent of a Jewish version of hell.
"In Judaism, it's one of the definitions of hell," he told The New York Times Magazine, "that you have to sit and watch the replay of everything you said and did with the people you know."
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