Adopted sister sounds cool. I don’t have any siblings now anyway.

If you don’t want Muslims/Christians to have any say over Jewish issues, the answer would be to live in Israel, a state founded primarily for Jewish interests. As a Jew living in America, your interests will always be marginalized, and I don’t see why a Muslim is any worse than a Christian marginalizing them.

Also, you say that like being fair and open-minded is a bad thing. You can be practical and fair. Keep Jewish interests at heart, but don’t hate other people because of it.

I honestly believe that its more of a Jewish need to always feel righteous, fair, and open-minded than to use common sense.

On the other hand, how you could exclude a person’s religious connections and upbringing from their current worldview is beyond me.

Vicki, will you be my adopted sister? Because I’m already finding the urge to disagree with everything you say and love you at the same time.

I’d like to keep Froylein in more of an aunt role anyway. If she’s cool with that?

I would say the majority of Russian Jews did not come in 79 and the early 80s…only a couple thousand were let through. The floodgates opened in 1991, which is when the majority immigrated to both Israel and America.

I agree with you that he is pretty much undermining the economy with big government. I don’t really believe in peace, love, and puppies, or that Obama or McCain would have fulfilled the majority of their campaign promises. However, I don’t understand why we should fear his Muslim roots.

As Kari said, I’m more concerned about the fact that he is pro-choice due to his religious beliefs as a Christian.

Apparently, your Russian Jewish community has different views than the one I am familiar with in Detroit. Since most of us came in 79 and early 80’s waves, we were escaping communism and not parastroyka. Of course we weren’t too thrilled about his Muslim roots, which are undeniable, the bigger concern was how he would destroy this country both economically and with his Utopian worldview. As far as his religion is concerned, he’s obviously a believer of self empowerment and self preservation more than any g-d. In fact, his 20 years in an anti-Semitic and racist church without making a peep, in order to build his African American street cred are one example, while the fact that this deeply spiritual man has not found a new church since moving to DC and avoiding National Prayer Day are more proof that he is only concerned about politics than spiritual enlightenment.

It’s funny though, the double standards that have been applied to Bush and Obama vis a vis religious observation.

Lastly, call me ethnocentric, narrow minded, or bigoted, but I don’t understand how any Jew could in their right mind not take into account a politicians’ religion when voting for them, especially if they were Muslim. Sure, when I was a bleeding heart liberal in my twenties who believed in peace, love, and puppies, I’d go for that. But I must have also believed what a politician would have told me back then too. Boy am I glad to have grown up.

In any case, I’d agree with you that his religion shouldn’t matter if it doesn’t influence his policies… But it does. He bills himself as a religious Christian and he clearly recognizes that at least enough Christians voted for him to get him into office.

I view the near-constant pandering to Christian groups in the US political system as a fundamental problem with the country.

In short, if we Jews are going to build a nation-state we should build a nation-state–a Jewish state. (Isn’t that what most view Zionism as being?) If we just want to build a state where we will be free from persecution (perhaps a broader approach to Zionism) then we can take anyone… But I’ve always believed the general idea behind Zionism is the first goal.

Some things that would improve Israel’s economy (e.g. #4) are not politically or socially viable. That doesn’t mean they aren’t equally valid answers to the question.

@Ben-David: Been there, done that? Where is this Palestinian state?

Egypt, Pakistan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Iran all have larger economies than Israel does. Even the Arab countries who have paltry GDPs compared to Israel would benefit from free (or more free) trade with Israel, just as Israel would benefit from them. (See: Rising quality of life in poorer countries that have relatively free trade with the US and Europe. See: Poorer European countries getting stronger due to the Eurozone free trade area.)

The Arab world is viewed as the new frontier for businesses as the increasing trend of globalization manifests and fresh prospects in East Asia dry up. Israel would benefit from this just as well were it to improve the relations it has with its close and not-so-close neighbors. But that requires giving the Palestinians a state.

Years ago, the Arabs’ collective economy was oil. Now…That’s not quite so true. Economically, the Arab world is changing, as is the rest of the world. Your opinion on the subject seems to be grounded in an understanding of the broader Arab economy that stopped being true several years ago.