JERUSALEM REPORT- Letter to the Editor

3/10/2003

A Jewish Candidate

To the editor:

While David Horovitz’s arguments against Senator Joseph Lieberman’s candidacy for the White House (From the Editor, Feb. 10) are sophisticated, coherent, and logical, in essence, they differ very little from those of the court Jews in the ghettos of Europe of two centuries ago; We will look out for our own interests, and leave us be.

We have come a long way from those days of powerlessness. When we are under siege, be it physically on the streets of Jerusalem, psychologically on the campuses of Berkeley and Harvard, or ideologically in the salons and halls of power in Europe, we do not strike back recklessly, but we not cower militarily, socially, or politically.

During the 2000 Gore Lieberman campaign, the U.S. electorate was exposed to Lieberman’s reflective, probing Orthodoxy and more than half voted for his ticket. Madison Avenue could not have designed a campaign that so touched the hearts and minds of Middle America. Today’s increased support for Israel may reflect this.

Lieberman’s candidacy is enhanced by his Jewishness. If Americans choose to elect him, then who are we to second-guess his presidency? To reject Lieberman as a candidate because, as Jackie Mason would say, he is too Jewish is the epitome of the Diaspora mentality. The risk of not pursuing our destiny, is far greater than relying on the attitude of silence of generations past that were guided by, “What will the goyim say?”

Aryeh Rubin
Miami

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