On The Other Hand
Editor — exploring modern JewryBipartisan Error On Iowa
Leading American Jewish groups are asking the Iowa Democratic and Republican parties to change the 2010 causes to avoid Shabbat. That’s a mistake as it’s not necessary.
Last week, major national Jewish groups representing Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist Jews, as well as the National Jewish Democratic Council and the Republican Jewish Coalition sent a letter to the political parties opposing the caucus. The letter was coordinated by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the umbrella group for community relations councils, including the Baltimore Jewish Council.
The caucus is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday, January 23, 2010, which would preclude Shabbat observant Jews from participating.
However, in an era of multiple forms of voting, this request seems unnecessary. While it is nice to be sensitive to everyone’s every needs, it also is not realistic. American Jews now represent less than two percent of the U.S. population. Our needs can be taken care of with early voting, including electronic voting. The issue should be that those votes will then be calculated into caucus results.
However, Iowa does not currently allow for such early voting in caucuses. Changing that is where Jewish efforts should be directed. In doing that, the combined Jewish groups will not only bring focus on Iowa’s multi-cultural community, but bring positive attention to the state’s Jewish community as well.
Posted by .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) on 09/29/09 at 02:23 PM | Comments (1)