Which issues matter most to Jews this election season? In this inaugural edition of Inside the Issues, host J.J. Goldberg, Editorial Director of the Forward, takes the pulse of America’s Jewish voters with pollster David Singer, and examines the changing American Jewish spiritual landscape with demographer Steven M. Cohen.
Reporting on the American Jewish Committee’s 2007 Annual Survey of American Jewish Opinion, the AJC’s David Singer posits that most Jewish voters, who are heavily concentrated in large “blue” states like California and New York, will swing for Democrats on Election Day.
The American Jewish trend of “hyper-political activity” — such as donating to political campaigns and going to polls in disproportionately large numbers — continued in 2007, with a largely Democratic bent, Singer reveals. And when Jews enter those voting booths and decide how to cast their votes, the survey shows, Israel-related issues may take a backseat to close-to-home domestic concerns.
Other topics discussed include American Jews’ changing perceptions of anti-Semitism, growing pessimism about Arab-Jewish relations and a widening generation gap in opinions of Israel.
The evolving ways in which younger American Jews worship is a subject of particular interest for Goldberg’s second guest, leading Jewish demographer and sociologist Steven M. Cohen.
Based on his recently-completed study of modern Jewish expressions of faith, commissioned by the organization Synagogue 3000, Cohen reports on the growing popularity of non-traditional forms of worship and what it might mean for the future of American Judaism. He explains how self-organized “spiritual communities” and “independent minyans” are meeting the specialized needs of a younger generation who are shunning synagogues — and the traditional married life associated with them — in ever-greater numbers.
J.J.’s Editorial
Finally, in his closing editorial, Golberg calls on progressive Jews to stand up against hawkish, “fear-voting” lobby groups who have typically set the agenda for the Jewish community, and to lead, instead, by an example of hope.
Forward Forum 04. Will the Jewish vote hold an unprecedented weight in the upcoming election? Award-winning Forward journalists explore this question in light of the candidates’ relationships with controversial Christian ministers, as well as new left-wing Israel lobbyist J Street’s challenge to AIPAC, the potential church-state violations of a new Hebrew charter school in Brooklyn, reforming the Kosher meat industry, and the success of Jewish summer camps.
Episode 04. The president of Caucus for America argues that America’s conservative presidents and Christian majority have benefited Jews, while the head of kosher supervision at the Orthodox Union defends his organization’s role in the Rubashkin’s kosher controversy, with Forward editorial director J.J. Goldberg.
Episode 05. Host Alana Newhouse explores America’s growing “Jew-Bu” trend of Jewish-Buddhists, gets to know a Catholic-turned-Orthodox Jew who’s made his fascinating life story into a comedy routine, and takes a serious look at the work of “Israel’s Walter Cronkite,” Chaim Yavin.
Episode 02. Do rabbis think the Bush administration has been good for Israel? Leading rabbis of different denominations and perspectives sit down together to discuss the the president’s impact on the American-Israel relationship and other provocative questions, including: is the kosher supervision industry in need of ethical reform, is there such a thing as the Jewish Values Vote, and should rabbis make political endorsements?
