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April 16, 1999/30 Nisan 5759, Vol. 51, No. 29
Politically conservative American Jews embrace right-wing, traditional values
TAMI BICKLEY
Staff Writer
Michael Medved, film critic, author and syndicated radio talk show host, is a politically conservative Jew whose show airs locally on weekdays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. on KHEP-AM Talk Radio 1280.
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A growing number of American Jews are involving themselves in conservative politics, leading more traditional lives and seeking out Jewish right-wing organizations with which to become affiliated.
"The days in which the Jewish community was monochromatic are long behind us," says Michael Medved, film critic, author and nationally syndicated, politically conservative radio talk show host, whose program is broadcast locally on KHEP-AM Talk Radio 1280 weekdays, from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. "(It once) was difficult to find Jewish Republicans. Jews were almost entirely associated with the left and with liberalism. ... That's changed in the past 20 years."
In response to this philosophical broadening, a number of politically conservative Jewish groups have sprung up around the country in recent years. They typically assert that they are reinstating Jewish traditionalism by adhering to and promoting conservative domestic, cultural and political ideals.
One such organization is Toward Tradition. Founded in 1991 by Medved and its president, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, Toward Tradition calls itself an "educational foundation dedicated to creating a national movement of Jews allied with Christians who want to apply traditional, conservative values to America's cultural, political and economic life."
A non-profit organization based in Mercer Island, Wash., near Seattle, Toward Tradition claims that it has nearly 9,000 supporters nationwide. Donors, foundation grants and activity fees fund the organization's annual budget of $500,000 to $1 million. The organization has 26 local chapters, including one in Phoenix.
The Phoenix chapter, headed by Carol Turoff, Arizona director and former national board member, occasionally meets to discuss topical and politically conservative subjects that relate to the Jewish community. Past speakers have included former Gov. Fife Symington and state Rep.Tom Horne (R-Phoenix). Approximately 40 people attend each meeting, Turoff says. Although supporters are diverse professionally - attorneys, physicians, professors, etc... - they all support the educational foundation of Toward Tradition and its conservative viewpoint, she says.
Lapin, who was born in South Africa and raised in England, is Orthodox and has always been a conservative thinker. He contends he has witnessed a transition in the beliefs of Jews over time. Jews are essentially being "pushed from liberalism and pulled toward conservatism," he says. One such push, he notes, comes from "the inherent failure of (democratic and liberal) policies. ... Anyone with eyes in their head can see that the rigorous application of secular, liberal doctrine for the last 35 years has increased the problems it was intended to solve."
Another push, Lapin says, is that the leadership in the American Jewish community has lost touch with its constituency. And despite the "shrill, unrelenting rhetoric found in Jewish leadership, an overwhelming majority of Jews do actually live fairly conservative lives."
The main pull toward conservatism, he explains, stems from the recognition that conservative values are very much in keeping with traditional Jewish values.
"Living as we are now, in an epidemic of 'upstateism,' traditional Jewish values correspond mostly to the conservative world view," he says.
But is the alleged shift among the Jewish population merely a symptom of a larger scale, societal move toward conservative politics? Leatrice Nach, president of the Arizona Jewish Committee, thinks so. "People by nature are becoming more conservative in everything," she says.
The societal shift is not new, says Dr. George Thomas, professor of sociology at Arizona State University. The culture as a whole began its worldwide shift toward conservative political beliefs in the 1980s, he says, when voters elected Ronald Reagan as president of the United States and Margaret Thatcher as prime minister of the United Kingdom.
So are Jews a decade late in jumping on the politically conservative bandwagon?
"It's irrelevant if some of the people in our community are getting on the train later than others. At least they're boarding it," says Turoff.
If increasing numbers of Jews are indeed stepping on board the right-moving train, and being pulled toward conservative political views, then there may be reason for liberal Jews to be concerned, notes Joel Breshin, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.
"I will only be concerned about (a shift toward conservatism) if it begins to affect our issues, such as who is (defined as) a Jew," Breshin says. "If Jews are voting more conservative(ly), does that mean that they will vote in favor of school prayer? I don't see that happening."
But it is happening. Political conservatives and liberals alike agree that church-and-state separation issues, school vouchers and funding, as well as abortion, are among the issues about which conservatives and liberals go head-to-head - and Jews are no exception. Politically conservative Jews generally do not support separation of church and state, and they allign themselves with the Christian right on such issues as prayer in public schools. They also support public funding for private schools.
"We're very pro-choice when it comes to education," explains Lapin, whose seven children were home-schooled. "Every parent should be the determining factor, as the Supreme Court has ruled three times in the last 100 years."
Supporting abortion rights, conservatives argue, flies in the face of the historical plight to which Jews have been subjected.
"I never understood how Jews, who were the victims of genocide themselves, could be in the forefront of a movement that is responsible for the deaths of so many of the unborn," Turoff says.
Yet these hot-button issues make up only a fraction of the doctrinal chasm that separates left from right. Just defining "traditional Judaism" is cause for debate between politically conservative and politically liberal Jews.
Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union, believes that political conservatism does not reflect the traditional culture of Judaism. She contends that traditional Jewish values are more aligned with liberalism than with conservatism.
"Because of the (experiences) of the Jewish people as an oppressed minority, (we have) learned the value of freedom and have generally taken the position that if one person isn't free, than none of us are free. ... The conservatives, with their prospective on small government and on private sector, don't share that concern as much as liberals do," says Eisenberg.
Those conservatives who switch from left to right of center sometimes encounter words of concern and disbelief from their liberal friends and families.
Seth Liebsohn, director of policy for the National Jewish Coalition, a conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C., was once a Democrat. Liebsohn, an Arizona native, says that 12 years ago he reached a turning point and registered as a Republican. This change of heart raised a red flag among those around him.
"There is no question about it," he says. "My friends and family were very concerned (for me)."
Medved, too, was not always the staunch conservative he is today. "People assume that you can't be authentically Jewish and be (politically) conservative," he says. "Too many American Jews for years have been confusing Judaism with liberalism. The truth is, you don't have to be liberal to be a good Jew, and you don't have to be a good Jew to be liberal.
"The important message for the Jewish community is that there is no 614th Commandment that says, 'Thou shall vote liberal.' By the same token, there is no commandment that says, 'Thou shall vote conservative.' It's possible for people to lead sincere, constructive, committed Jewish lives and be conservative; and it's possible for people to lead sincere, constructive, committed Jewish lives and be liberal."
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