Many people vote for a leader based on how good they’ll be for Jews, but when we look to our own self-interest and preservation exclusively, we risk losing our status as global citizens

Rabbi Avi Finegold
FOUNDER, THE JEWISH LEARNING LIBRARY, MONTREAL

Rabbi Philip Scheim
BETH DAVID B’NAI  ISRAEL BETH  AM CONGREGATION, TORONTO

Rabbi Scheim: The old joke goes something like this: a father enters the living room, where his son is watching the baseball game. The father asks: “Who’s playing?” The son answers: “The Yankees and the Red Sox.” The father asks: “Who’s winning?” The son answers: “The Red Sox.” The father asks: “Is this good or bad for the Jews?”

The classical insecurity of the Diaspora Jew has diminished in recent decades, largely because of Israel and its achievements and strength. Thus, the same people whose voice of protest was muted during the Holocaust years rose during the struggle for Soviet Jewry and, one could argue, played a role in the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union. Certainly, the ongoing communal outcries against the nuclear accord with Iran, whereby Jewish leaders have publicly taken on an American president and his administration, would have been hard to imagine in earlier times. 

We have come a long way, to be sure, but are we as secure as we like to imagine? Do we have reason to fear for our future, as anti-Semitism, especially in Europe, has re-emerged in frightening ways?

Rabbi Finegold: I think it is safe to say that we are likely living in an era with the most security for Jews as a people. We have a home in the world and the vast majority of places where we live provide legal protection for us to live as observantly as we want. Our communities are healthy and heterogeneous. And yet you rightly ask if we might be too complacent. But I would like to reframe the issue in light of something I have been struggling with recently. 

Canadian Jews clearly live in a time when we have both the freedom and the communal clout to become single-issue voters. There are many people who vote for a leader solely based on how good they will be for the Jews. Lately, though, I have begun to ask myself if this attitude might be a double-edged sword. 

I think that when we look to our own self-interest and preservation exclusively, we begin to lose our status as global citizens. I have always felt that one of the things we have fought for, and deservedly won, over the past 2,000 years has been the ability to balance our communal needs with the needs of the population at large. Indeed, that is why I think we can point to so many successful Jews in public service. 

The reason we do not have to fear for our future is that our values have ensured us a safe haven, not just in Israel but in many parts of the world.

Rabbi Scheim: One can prioritize Jewish issues without becoming a single-issue voter, which, I agree, diminishes our influence in the greater community. 

As much as I appreciate Ted Cruz’s staunch support of Israel and that of several other candidates, their positions on virtually every other issue would turn me away, if I was a voter in forthcoming U.S. primary elections. 

Still, I could never support a candidate or a party that’s ambivalent with respect to Israel, or any other issue close to the Jewish heart. Our security in a welcoming society allows us to broaden our political and social perspective, but it also allows us to unabashedly affirm our priorities.

Rabbi Finegold: What fascinates me about this discussion is that the initial point about security was made in reference to the security of Jewry in Europe. I wonder if this might be related to the fact that Europe was and has traditionally been a place where Jews have been conditioned to keep their opinions to themselves and not participate in the public discourse as Jews. Perhaps it is this very change in the new world that has allowed us to feel more secure. 

I would like to think that once we are no longer an “other,” once our voices are heard and reckoned with, our place in society becomes more secure. I certainly don’t want to blame Jews living in societies where they feel oppressed for their plight, because the issue is far more complex than this column allows. Yet I can’t help but shine a positive light on the societies that seem to have managed to lessen the security concern from the minds of their members and point out that it is often through visibility that such a thing happens.