In response to a VIN article stating that a frum Jew should not support DemonRats ... Elchanan Poupko displayes his naïveté and his twisted mind!
Read response after his nonsense from outraged Frum Yidden.
I was deeply dismayed to see an article on VIN titled “Is It Proper for a Frum Jew to Support Joe Biden.” The ill trend in the orthodox community towards full acceptance of far-right Evangelical politics and questioning the religious and Jewish commitment of those who disagree with right-wing “talk-radio” style politics is costing orthodoxy our best and brightest. The conclusion of the writer was, “I cannot fathom how any frum Jew who cares about Torah values, and worries about the safety and prosperity of Jewish children, could possibly support the Democrat party in 2022.” The idea that somehow this is a matter of religion and not politics is damaging, and I will not stand by while it happens. So here is my response:
If you are reading this, you are most likely a fellow Jew living either in a blue district of a blue state, a red district in a blue state, or a blue district in a red state. None of you are living in a red district in a red state. Why? Because likely like Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Ben Shapiro, and yes, also Donald Trump, you would never go live in a bright red area. Not even if you live depends on it. But why not? Why not live up to those great ideas you might have heard of on your recent favorite radio show, frum weekly, or Tikva fellowship, and live the dream in Kentucky or Louisiana free from Democrat oppression and the immoral values you keep speaking out against?
Why not? Probably because you are still smart enough to know that you want to live within a driving distance of a good hospital, accessible healthcare, working highways, and clean water. Maybe you know that the difference in life expectancy between New York and Louisiana is a whole six years, and you don’t want to die young. This might just have to do with that those blue states fund public universities, don’t hold book burnings with claims those books contain CRT and attract the brightest minds who, for some reason which is beyond me, tend to abhor the kind of talk radio politics the writer espoused.
You may also live in a blue area because you know about our great Chesed organizations like RCCS, which will make sure a loved one gets their cancer treatment thanks to blue state-socialist laws that don’t let people die on the street. It may be because you know someone who has a special needs child who would be thrown to the wolves in a red area, yet now, with the help of HASC, OHEL, or other organizations benefiting from liberal policies, you don’t need to have the parents go bankrupt.
It could also be because you are a parent and know that the NUMBER ONE cause of death among American children is guns. So yes, it is great to sympathize with Fox news pro-second-amendment talk, but you really would not want your child to be shut up in their school by some mentally ill teenager allowed to buy assault rifles thanks to the NRA.
Oh, and the claim that this is about Israel’s security “By supporting Biden, you may be responsible for killing innocent Charedim and other frum and secular Jews.” I must have missed the VIN article thanking President Obama for Israel’s statistically safest and least deadly eight years. If you didn’t write that it is probably because you believed there were other factors in play. Once we are on the topic, we must also acknowledge the deadliest years for Israeli civilians–the bloodbath of the 2nd Intifada, the Expulsion from Gush Katif–all under Rav Hameratzchim George W. Bush.
To the issue very unnecessarily occupying the minds of too many frum people on gender-related politics: I will never understand how what happens in women’s sports in Iowa or in Ivy League schools matters to you more than the economy, healthcare, the survival of democracy, or raising life expectancy. My simple response is to quote what I heard from a senior figure in the frum community a few years ago: “if your positions on these issues line up with those of angry old Italian men, your positions are probably not stemming from the Torah.”
Writing for this family-friendly publication, I am afraid to even begin referencing the moral failures and immorality within the GOP or to even write the names of those implicated. So no, there is no religious imperative in supporting the GOP, and the danger of their immorality infecting their own community should not be underestimated.
Economically, all you need are the facts to know that President Biden’s economy is one of the greatest on record, unemployment one of the lowest on record, child tax credit, and policies of focusing on financial relief for families rather than billionaires, yachts, and corporations most definitely help most from people. Not to mention the GOP SALT tax code of 2018 inflicting much financial pain on blue states where frum Jews live.
Yet more than any of the above, we have an obligation to this country. There is a reason we live in the USA and are not in Russia or China. Democracy offered us a safe haven to conduct our lives as we wished to. After January 6th and the emergence of the GOP as an authoritarian party aspiring to overthrow democracy and continue to threaten it with every day that goes by, this is no longer about politics; it is about authoritarianism vs. democracy. We cannot betray the very system that gave us religious freedom and so many other freedoms in favor of a violent personality cult that would do anything for power–including storming the United States Capitol to overturn an election and attempting to assassinate the Vice President of the United States.
If, for some reason, all this does not convince you, that is fine. But please do not ostracize those of us who are Makir Tov, know what is good, do not buy into anti-science QAnnon worshiping shaman, and still believe in democracy over authoritarianism.
What a vile man. He wants subsidy and cash and therefore we must support democrat ideas? Kill babies, transgender everything etc etc. But this self proclaimed rabbi decides that we must vote Democrat to get money. How about this. You and all other self proclaimed rabbis get a real job and forget about poison money from these killers
I don’t know who Rabbi Elchanan Pouko is, but this Op ed is filled with Misinformation and Mainstream media fake talking points….
i do disagree with the other op ed questioning Jews frumness based on political thought. that’s just dumb. however, this one is just as bad honestly. and not only is it just as bad, this author is buying into all the fake media outlets and all the tumah of the radical leftwing, also claiming that red states are horrible (they aren’t.) even going so far as using made up terms to smear republicans such as Qannon. there is no such thing as qannon its a made up term and even if you where to use the correct term Q. the vast majority of Republicans don’t believe in that anyways in the area of 98% don’t subscribe to that.
while all democrats nowadays besides for a few believe in radical ideas such as there are 69 genders, and LGBTQIAPAHEOUTHOUEOHTHTOHWER)T#)(*%#)(%U %
The writers point re Bush and the initfada is just another blatant lie. We all know its started under Clinton when Arafat YMS walked out and said be ready for war. It was Clinton and his naive OSLO accord that emboldened Arafat YMS and gave them so much validity get the intifada started. Yes its spilled over into Bush but its was so clealry Clintons doing. Yes Obama was good to Israel but Trump gave them total free hands and established a status quo of putting those arabs in place
Another insane leftist repeating and regurgitating the phony narratives that one hears on CNN and MSLSD. Why don’t you try better off being a Jew, a frum yid, then to be the leftist that you are .
There is a reason that there is such a thing as a liberal Jew and a Jewish conservative. As Rush Limbaugh, the Great Rush Limbaugh taught us, a liberal Jew is someone who is liberal first and then maybe Jewish. A Jewish conservative is someone who is Jewish first and then politically conservative.
We know where this guy stands. He went to the Uber leftist alleged Jewish school and picked up all the insanity from that place in Washington Heights.
The anti-Semites in government, especially in Congress and state legislatures, are Democrats – Tlaib, Omar etc. And the Democrats give these haters of Yidden more and more power. So all the rest is shtusim.
Obama gave Iran money and power, as well as supporting haters of Yidden in the Black community in NY, Chicago and LA among other areas. The release of criminals by politicians comes from Democrats like DeBlasio, and others in big cities.
Am sure others can speak more about this.
75% of this op-Ed is based on one point that simply isn’t true. The author suggests Jews don’t live in red states (or red areas of blue states) because we are drawn to and prefer the policies of the blue. If the author was honest he would recognize that while this may be true for many of the goyim living in these areas, for frum Jews the top reasons we choose our place of residence is proximity to family and Jewish resources. Not because of government policies. Once living in these locations, frum organizations do a wonderful job of leveraging local policies. But it is a lie that frum Jews choose locations based on this.
Why did early frum immigrants choose these locations? Is a good question for the historians. Maybe because that’s where the shmatteh business was strong…but I would venture to say many of these policies you suggest the impetus to choosing these locations weren’t even in place back then.
We won’t even go in to many of the authors other claims like Gush Katif being Bush’s fault.
I wish the author would recognize there are extremists on both sides. Pointing to the alt right who have zero representation in congress (even Marjorie Taylor Green) and saying stay away from the right, isn’t even as strong as an argument as me suggesting far left people in the Democrat party that do actually have representation (even strong representation) should lead you to stay away from that party. You cannot deny that were it up to the squad and progressives on the left they would undermine Israel and the safety of our brothers and sisters there if given the chance.
It seems the author has made up his mind to be on the left and then found half baked arguments to justify it
1 comment:
He's an old Heretic/Apikores.
Nothing new.
He'll have a front seat in the Abyss.
Amen
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