Jim Stillman
Nevar
Senator Obama’s Rabbi Relative.
September 18th 2008 10:12
I greatfully acknowledge the suggestion by fellow Orbler, Gene, to follow up on this story.
It’s no secret that there has been widespread uneasiness by Jews in connection with Barack Obama. Part of this is the result of push polling by Republican operatives, the subject of an article published a day or so ago on this site. Part of the problem has been the rumors and innuendo of the Right. A recent article in the New York Times described the situation:
But in recent presidential elections, Jews have drifted somewhat to the right. Because Mr. Obama is relatively new on the national stage, his résumé of Senate votes in support of Israel is short, as is his list of high-profile visits to synagogues and delis. So far, his overtures to Jews have been limited; aside from a few speeches and interviews, he has left most of it to surrogates.
American Jews hold two competing views of Mr. Obama, said Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington. First, there is Obama the scholar, the social justice advocate, the defender of Israel with a close feel for Jewish concerns garnered through decades of intimate friendships. In this version, Mr. Obama’s race is an asset, Rabbi Saperstein said.
The second version is defined by the controversy over his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., worries about Mr. Obama’s past associations and questions about his support for Israel.
“It’s too early to know how they will play out,” Rabbi Saperstein said.
Alan M. Dershowitz, a professor at Harvard Law School, said he had been deluged with questions from Jews about the race, especially about what to think of Mr. Obama. “I have gotten hundreds of e-mails asking me, ‘Who should we vote for?’ ” he said. Mr. Dershowitz, who supports Mrs. Clinton, says he tells voters that Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton and Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, are all pro-Israel and to reject false personal attacks on Mr. Obama.
Because of a dispute over moving the date of the state’s primary, Mr. Obama and the other Democratic candidates did not campaign in Florida. In his absence, novel and exotic rumors about Mr. Obama have flourished. Among many older Jews, and some younger ones, as well, he has become a conduit for Jewish anxiety about Israel, Iran, anti-Semitism and race.
The more familiar concerns”
Mr. Obama is Arab. (He’s not.)
He is a part of Chicago’s large Palestinian community. (Wrong again.
Mr. Wright is the godfather of Mr. Obama’s children. (No, he’s not.)
Al Qaeda is backing him. (Incorrect.)
Michelle Obama has proven so hostile and argumentative that the campaign is keeping her silent. (Mrs. Obama campaigns frequently, drawing crowds in her own right.)
Mr. Obama might fill his administration with followers of Louis Farrakhan. (Extremely unlikely, given his denunciation of Mr. Farrakhan.)
South Florida is “the most concentrated area in the country in terms of misinformation” about Mr. Obama, said Representative Robert Wexler, Democrat of Florida, and the co-chairman of the Obama campaign in the state. His surrogates can put these fears to rest, Mr. Wexler said, by simply repeating the facts about Mr. Obama — his correct biography, his support for Israel, his positions on other important issues.
But the resistance toward Mr. Obama appears to be rooted in something more than factual misperception; even those with an accurate understanding of Mr. Obama share the hesitations. In dozens of interviews, South Florida Jews questioned his commitment to Israel — even some who knew he earns high marks from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which lobbies the United States government on behalf of its members, who favor a strong relationship between the United States and Israel.
Now it turns out that he has a prominent Rabbi as a relative – at least through marriage.
Rabbi Capers C. Funnye, Jr., who heads a predominantly black congregation in Chicago, was reported by the Wall Street Journal to be a cousin of Michelle Obama, son of Mrs. Obama’s grandfather. As the first black member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and many mainstream Jewish organizations, Rabbi Funnye is well known in Chicago, primarily for his efforts to build bridges across racial and religious divides.
Rabbi Funnye has contributed to the campaign and mentions the Democratic presidential nominee in sermons before his congregation at Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Congregation, which has 200 members.
So who knew? Will it make a difference? Who knows? But it is interesting.
Nu?
It’s no secret that there has been widespread uneasiness by Jews in connection with Barack Obama. Part of this is the result of push polling by Republican operatives, the subject of an article published a day or so ago on this site. Part of the problem has been the rumors and innuendo of the Right. A recent article in the New York Times described the situation:
But in recent presidential elections, Jews have drifted somewhat to the right. Because Mr. Obama is relatively new on the national stage, his résumé of Senate votes in support of Israel is short, as is his list of high-profile visits to synagogues and delis. So far, his overtures to Jews have been limited; aside from a few speeches and interviews, he has left most of it to surrogates.
American Jews hold two competing views of Mr. Obama, said Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism in Washington. First, there is Obama the scholar, the social justice advocate, the defender of Israel with a close feel for Jewish concerns garnered through decades of intimate friendships. In this version, Mr. Obama’s race is an asset, Rabbi Saperstein said.
The second version is defined by the controversy over his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., worries about Mr. Obama’s past associations and questions about his support for Israel.
“It’s too early to know how they will play out,” Rabbi Saperstein said.
Alan M. Dershowitz, a professor at Harvard Law School, said he had been deluged with questions from Jews about the race, especially about what to think of Mr. Obama. “I have gotten hundreds of e-mails asking me, ‘Who should we vote for?’ ” he said. Mr. Dershowitz, who supports Mrs. Clinton, says he tells voters that Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton and Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, are all pro-Israel and to reject false personal attacks on Mr. Obama.
Because of a dispute over moving the date of the state’s primary, Mr. Obama and the other Democratic candidates did not campaign in Florida. In his absence, novel and exotic rumors about Mr. Obama have flourished. Among many older Jews, and some younger ones, as well, he has become a conduit for Jewish anxiety about Israel, Iran, anti-Semitism and race.
The more familiar concerns”
Mr. Obama is Arab. (He’s not.)
He is a part of Chicago’s large Palestinian community. (Wrong again.
Mr. Wright is the godfather of Mr. Obama’s children. (No, he’s not.)
Al Qaeda is backing him. (Incorrect.)
Michelle Obama has proven so hostile and argumentative that the campaign is keeping her silent. (Mrs. Obama campaigns frequently, drawing crowds in her own right.)
Mr. Obama might fill his administration with followers of Louis Farrakhan. (Extremely unlikely, given his denunciation of Mr. Farrakhan.)
South Florida is “the most concentrated area in the country in terms of misinformation” about Mr. Obama, said Representative Robert Wexler, Democrat of Florida, and the co-chairman of the Obama campaign in the state. His surrogates can put these fears to rest, Mr. Wexler said, by simply repeating the facts about Mr. Obama — his correct biography, his support for Israel, his positions on other important issues.
But the resistance toward Mr. Obama appears to be rooted in something more than factual misperception; even those with an accurate understanding of Mr. Obama share the hesitations. In dozens of interviews, South Florida Jews questioned his commitment to Israel — even some who knew he earns high marks from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which lobbies the United States government on behalf of its members, who favor a strong relationship between the United States and Israel.
Now it turns out that he has a prominent Rabbi as a relative – at least through marriage.
Rabbi Capers C. Funnye, Jr., who heads a predominantly black congregation in Chicago, was reported by the Wall Street Journal to be a cousin of Michelle Obama, son of Mrs. Obama’s grandfather. As the first black member of the Chicago Board of Rabbis and many mainstream Jewish organizations, Rabbi Funnye is well known in Chicago, primarily for his efforts to build bridges across racial and religious divides.
Rabbi Funnye has contributed to the campaign and mentions the Democratic presidential nominee in sermons before his congregation at Shalom B’nai Zaken Ethiopian Congregation, which has 200 members.
So who knew? Will it make a difference? Who knows? But it is interesting.
Nu?
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Comment by Janet Collins
Acceptable Etiquette
The Social Critic
Janet Collins Blog
I fear that as November is approaching that there will be more of this. Anything but anything to extinguish the hopes of Obama will be created and exaggerated and even made up. That is politics unfortunately.
Keep it coming.
Janet