April 2, 2007
Passover
Message: Why So Many Jews Are Liberal
by Rabbi Daniel Lapin
As
a visible, politically conservative rabbi, whose
conservatism flows inevitably and directly from his
Judaism, I endure a never-ending barrage of
attacks. I don't much mind them as they remind me
of my mission -- standing astride America's secular
path to decline, decadence, and depravity, but I do
feel sorry for the pain these assaults cause my
family. Especially so since most of these attacks
come from other Jews; indignant Jews outraged by a
rabbi who does not subscribe to the principles of
liberalism.
As a Jew, I must reject liberalism because the
values of the two belief systems, Judaism and
liberalism, are quite incompatible. For instance,
three of the main tenets of liberalism are roundly
refuted by the Passover holy day beginning
tonight.
Liberalism tends to follow the heart rather than
the head, finding visceral sentiment utterly
compelling. It also suggests that each of us
carries within ourselves absolute knowledge of what
is right for us. "Just do what you think is right"
is central to the liberal liturgy. Finally,
liberalism encourages dependency on the state.
By contrast, Passover emphasizes rules rather
than feelings. The carefully ordered agenda of the
Passover Seder specifies exactly what we must read
and say, what must be eaten, how it should be eaten
and when. I seldom feel like eating matzoh -- that
particularly indigestible culinary treat. However,
what we may feel like is of no importance at a
seder. What matters is the rules.
Second, Passover insists that we distrust our
own instincts of rightness, replacing them with
God's vision of morality. After all, many of the
Israelites preferred to remain in Egypt while
others who left desperately desired to return. The
exodus from Egypt was tightly linked to the giving
of the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai fifty days
later. Moses informed Pharaoh that the entire
purpose for leaving Egypt was to receive God's
instructions, the Torah, in seven weeks time. To
this day, Jews meticulously and formally count off
each of those days in eager anticipation of the
fulfillment of the exodus, namely replacing our own
sense of what is right with God's.
Finally, Passover reminds us that dependency on
the state is just a polite way of describing
slavery. Sure, the state will supply you with all
your needs but the basic laws of economic reality
insist that it can only do so by subjecting you
completely. The Exodus was a call to reject the
domination of the state.
There can hardly be a soul left in America
unaware of the tragic and misguided Jewish embrace
of liberalism. With such a clear conflict between
Jewish values and the doctrines of liberalism why
are so many Jews liberals?
There are two main explanations for why American
Jews pledge their allegiance to the liberal agenda.
The first is self flattering but untrue: This
explanation says that each year, Jews read the
words in the Passover Seder: "Remember that you
were once slaves in the land of Egypt." The
Egyptian experience was first in a long sequence of
oppressions, and Jews have never forgotten what
oppression feels like; hence their ability to
identify with the underdog.
This is unconvincing because liberals do not
support all underdogs. They project sympathy very
selectively, invariably identifying with whichever
side more strongly opposes traditional
Judeo-Christian values. For instance, there is very
little liberal concern for Christians being
oppressed by the People's Republic of China.
The second explanation correctly observes that
liberalism has replaced Judaism as a religion for
many American Jews. Today in America, many Jews
actively reject the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob. They remain ethnic Jews, but their hearts
and souls cleave to another faith -- the faith of
secular liberalism.
But what is the attraction of this strange faith
of secularism? Jews embrace liberalism to find--or
if necessary create--the escape hatch through which
those who find the Torah too limiting, could flee.
Liberalism has attracted Jews for over three
thousand years. Ancient Jewish wisdom reports that
upon receiving the Ten Commandments, the Israelites
wept. Their gloom was caused by the realization
that the Revelation they had just experienced
prohibited the lascivious lifestyle to which they
had grown accustomed in Egypt.
At that moment, secular liberalism was born; the
eternal search for liberation from God's seemingly
restrictive rules. It was a movement that has
always found eager converts. Aldous Huxley wrote in
Confessions of a Professional Free Thinker: "We
were opposed to morality because it interfered with
our sexual freedom." Columbia University professor,
Lionel Trilling was startlingly honest when he
wrote, "To subvert the classic Jewish, Christian
and natural virtues... to insinuate that what Jews
and Christians have for centuries called sin is
actually a high form of liberation."
Biblical faith maintains civilization by curbing
human passions. Jews and Christians choose to
renounce absolute license. We accept restraints in
our long term interests. We defer gratification and
joyfully submit to moral self-discipline in a
manner not dissimilar to the training regimen
adopted by an aspiring athlete.
Judaism exercises detailed control over every
aspect of daily life. Oscar Wilde defined the cynic
as one who knows the price of everything and the
value of nothing. Too many Jews see only the price
of religious discipline. They correctly note that
the Torah instructs how to walk and how to talk,
how to rise in the morning and how to retire at
night. For those disciples of Moses who wish to
know, it speaks of how and when to pray and what
and how to eat. It mandates whom to marry and how
to make love. It even demands that we have children
and specifies how to raise them.
Like keen athletes, some descendants of Abraham
see lifestyle enhancing benefits in a religious
regimen. However many Jews desperately pursue
liberalism as a way out of their covenant. This is
the true purpose of liberalism and Jews are its
chief champions because it alone provides an escape
from having to accept Jewish law--the Torah.
However many Jews take Jewish values seriously
and they constitute a fountainhead of conservative
values. Ronald Reagan and more recently George W.
Bush, won the votes of many of these Jews. Unlike
liberals, these Jews know that what threatens them
is not Christianity but an American population with
no religious values at all.
This is precisely why my colleagues and I formed
Toward Tradition, the premier American Alliance of
Jews and Christians. When all Jews recognize the
benefits of our authentic heritage and finally
realize that Judaism and liberalism are
incompatible, we Jews will start doing more good
for America. We shall then once again be the kind
of Jews President John Adams spoke of when he
labeled us "a most essential element for civilizing
the nations."
Lapin
Archive
Radio
talk show host, Rabbi Daniel Lapin, is president of
Toward Tradition, a bridge-building organization
providing a voice for all Americans who defend the
Judeo-Christian values vital for our nation's
survival. Visit their website at http://www.towardtradition.org.
© 2005 by Rabbi Daniel Lapin and reproduced
here with permission.
Books by
Rabbi Daniel Lapin
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