This past week I listened to a podcast in which Bari Weiss, the former New York Times reporter, was interviewing Sheryl Sandberg, who has served as COO for Meta ( Facebook ), been a C- suite exec for Google, and was Lawrence Summers ‘ chief of staff in the Clinton administration. Both people are of Jewish history.
Weiss has distinguished herself by challenging woke stories and challenging those who deny or refute the horrors of October 7 as well as those who criticize those who place a double standard on Israel for their actions in Gaza. Sandberg produced a video,” Cries Before Silence”, that is a powerful and moving profile, which includes interviews with victims and first firefighters, of Oct. 7 and its aftermath. It can be found on YouTube, and I highly recommend it.
Both women support Israel in the current conflict, but they are disappointed and appalled by the hatred that has emerged in various NGOs, the world, and other countries. They also oppose the Israeli and Israeli governments being held to a standard of information that would n’t apply to other people and people. Both were notable because they both expressed a sense of treachery and rejection by liberals who were formerly friends.
Later in the meeting, Weiss brought up politicians and asked Sandberg,” Will you be donating to Trump this pattern and supporting Collins”?
Sandberg responded,” I did volunteer, and I do assistance”.
Her voice seemed to be a little uncomfortable, as if she had wished she had n’t been asked the question and had felt a little embarrassed by her response. All she had said in the opening 30 minutes of the interview seemed to contradict itself, in my opinion.
This is a woman who put her reputation, friends, wealth, and work on the line to help Israel in what is undoubtedly its darkest hours. However, Sheryl Sandberg ( in what I believe will be a representative case of most liberal Jews in the upcoming election ) was unable to break through the for that had been enveloping her despite an enormous amount of Jew-hate emanating from the left in America and despite a leader and management making every effort to stop Israel in Gaza socially and physically.
Instead, she talked about listening to one another and educating people, as if understanding and greater knowledge are the keys to a nuanced acceptance that kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder are wrong. She was lost in babble, unable to distinguish her friends from her enemies.
A little further on in the interview, Weiss, outlining the position of many women on the left, said something as astonishing as it was clarifying: “]T] here’s one group of people who I detest on their domestic policy, but I really like what they’re saying in terms of, you know, the women that are being held hostage right now by Hamas. And there is a group of people who have policies on things like abortion and choice that I really enjoy but are completely silent on this foreign issue.
Dear God.
” Detest”. One group of people is detestable. Even though those she detests are not the ones cheering on kidnapping, torture, rape, and murder, when both groups are placed upon the voting scale, apparently, their differences are nearly indiscernible. One thing seems sure, the detestable group supports a law that means there are some states, in which Weiss will never live, where she would find it more difficult, or even impossible in later stages, to have an abortion. And this is to be considered and weighed against the other group who wo n’t condemn, but in some instances will openly support, barbarians who would kidnap, torture, rape, and murder Weiss because she is Jewish. Evidently, the choice is a difficult one.
Bari Weiss should be unequivocally admired for both her courage and her intellect, but her judgment, as with that of Sheryl Sandberg, is wanting because it’s ossified.
Nevertheless, Jews all over the United States have a deep hold on this perspective. Warren Harding received a 43 % majority of the Jewish vote in 1916. In the previous presidential election, a Republican candidate received more Jewish votes than a Democrat. It should come with an asterisk because Eugene Debs, a socialist, ran third- party and received 38 percent of the Jewish vote. In short, Democrats, for more than 100 years, have been able to count on unwavering support from Jews.
However, many people have been left wondering if Joe Biden and Democrats can count on the continued fervor of secular Jews as a result of the post-Oct. 7 tidal wave of antisemitic and anti-Israel protests on school campuses and in blue cities paired with the Biden administration’s arm-twistering of Israel to negotiate with Hamas ( including withholding some munitions needed to fight terrorists in Gaza ). Orthodox Jews make up a small minority of the Jewish vote, but they are a different story.
The upheaval in universities is undoubtedly driven by political leftist ideology, and Joe Biden, who is in a neck-and-neck race with Trump in Michigan, is trying to placate that state’s Muslim voters by strong-arming Israel. Street demonstrators have been shown to have financial ties to leftist billionaires.
If you’re an American Jew with a background of multigenerational support for Democrats, but you believe caring about Israel is either “essential” or “important” to being a Jew, does this make for a conflict of allegiances? I’m neither a Jew nor a leftist, but I’d have thought the answer was no. Even so, the choice is obviously more difficult than I had anticipated, despite the fact that there have been a few notable departures ( such as David Sacks supporting Donald Trump ).
However, Israel will not survive without the support of America’s Jews, and Judaism in America will not survive without Israel. I want to say to Sandberg and Weiss and all liberal Jews in a liminal position, this is not a Hobson’s choice, but it is easy and clear cut: One side in this argument is just, right, and moral, the other is dissimulating, immoral, and evil. Shake your eyes so they do n’t touch the scales. Allow your logic to travel to its proper conclusion. Do what you know is right.
