Jews Voted Overwhelmingly Democratic; First Mulsim in Congress

Although I don't know the cultural correct term, I would like to wish the Arabic equivelent of mazal tov to Keith Ellison, a Minnesota state legislator and lawyer who became the first Mulsim elected to Congress. He joins a number of Jewish members of Congress (many of whom are set to take leadership roles in the new Democratically-controlled Congress).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What an election!
I saw one report that listed that Jews voted over 80% Democratic in the past election. Since I can't find the source on-line and I already deleted the email, lets just say that Jews voted overwhelmingly Democratic in yesterdays election.

An article last week broke down the support of American Jews by party and issue.
It will be interesting to see if in any of the seats where party control switched if the Jewish vote switched in large numbers. Experts say a slow move towards Republican identification in the Jewish community (which used to be almost entirely Democrats) has reversed itself.

A few weeks ago, the national Jewish organizations supporting both parties duked it out in the press about support for Israel. Like many foreign policy issues, the mainstreme of the Democratic party is almost identical with Republicans when it comes to Israel. According to a political advisor to Natan Sharansky who I had lunch with today (before he speaks tonight at Amherst), the difference between the two parties is one of nuance. The concern in the Israeli and organized American Jewish community is that the more liberal end of the Democratic party differs sharply with its more moderate peers on Israel. We will see.

There has been a growing trend in organizations like AIPAC to align themselves clearly with the Republicans. Or at least some have argued that this trend exists. While I am no expert on the subject, I suspect it stems from the prevelence of Jews in Neo-Con organizations. Over the last few weeks as a Democratic take over of at least the house seemed more likely, many Jewish organizations have been striving to show they are bi-partisan. I expect we will see that continue. What a changed world from a few months ago.

Stock market pundits are predicting gridlock (which is good for the market)! Let's wait and see what happens to issues of importance to the Jewish community.

Rabbi Bruce