So, where do you stand politically, anyway?

I hate pigeonholes. 

I hesitate to title myself into any political category or party for the same reason I never took to goose-stepping in college; I don’t follow the crowd and never will.  But, to understand where I’m coming from, there are probably some basic principles you ought to know:

I am a Zionist.  This means that I believe that Israel is a Jewish State, and as such, the Jewish people have an inherent, G-d given right to the land.  How they decide to exercise and/or vocalise that right is their choice.  Whether I agree with them or not does not matter.  What does matter is that we have the right to exist and to be loud and proud about it.

I am Jewish.  I go to Temple for the High Holidays and try to make a Shabbat every now and then.  I was an active member of Hillel.  But Jewish, for me, goes beyond religious practice and effects every aspect of my life and being.  I don’t eat pork.  My husband separates milk and meat, so when I’m with him, cheese steaks are out the window.  I spent a weekend helping to wire up a Ram Kol at a Labor Zionist youth movement summer camp.  I also marched in the Israel Day Parade in New York.  My current reading list includes To Jerusalem and Back by Saul Bellow and Founders and Sons by Amos Elon.  I employ Yiddish frequently and try to study Hebrew fervently.  Most of all, I seek to honor G-d with all my heart and treat my neighbor as myself, because that’s the Jewish thing to do.

I will never BOO another Jew.  Recently a bunch of right-wingers boo’d at a group from my above-mentioned left-wing camp.  For some reason, these right-wingers (who, I’m fairly sure, were more religiously observant than a bunch of vegetarian Obama fans from New York City) decided that their own political positions superceded the Biblical call for Jewish unity.  Apparently, in their fervor to keep Israel and Jerusalem united, these politicos decided that sinat chinam [baseless hatred] was an acceptable weapon in their ideological battle.  You know–the same stuff that resulted in the destruction of the Temple and the …loss of Jerusalem. 

Hmm….

I don’t agree with every opinion vocalized by my fellow Jews.   But I’m not going to allow our differences to result in the destruction of our unity.  We’ve been a minyan of stiff-necks since Sinai.  After 5,000 years, I think we can learn to get along; don’t you?

G-d is the Supreme Authority over everything, including us.  I’m one of those wacky Joos who actually reads the contract before she signs it.  I own a Bible.  I reference it frequently.  I try to apply the principles therein to my daily life, without the intervening commentary or guidance of a Rabbi, Cantor, or religious official of any kind, for three reasons:

1.  I have a brain.  I like to use it.

2.  I dislike middle men and authoritarians.  Besides, as my grandfather always said, when I reach Heaven, the conversation is going to be one-on-one anyway.

3.  I can.  It really is as simple as that.

Human beings try and create power structures in and of themselves to control the chaos on this planet.  Some work better than others.  G-d works best.  And, usually, the political structures that recognize this simple fact in some form or fashion are the ones that function the most successfully.  Go figure.

I am an individual.  I believe in individual liberties.  I dislike bloated governments trying to legislate my life and the lives of others. 

I believe the most successful way to live your life is to know G-d, know yourself, and know the world around you–in that order.  This is done through education and education comes through many channels: family, school, individual study, friends, travel, experience, to name a few.  Embrace them all–wisely.

For a situation to be handled correctly in part, it must be viewed through the lens of the whole.  As my mother has said, we are all links in a chain.  You can’t address one broken link without looking at how that repair will help or harm the rest.