Why Are Jews Liberals?

June 1, 2009
Eminent neoconservative Podhoretz (World War IV
) surveys the centuries of atrocities that, he says, have pushed most Jews to the Left, notably the persecutions by medieval Christendom, from blood libels to expulsion to ghettoization, and in modern times the Dreyfus affair and Nazism. Immigrant American Jews were attracted to the Democratic Party, says Podhoretz, because it was the closest counterpart to the European leftists who had favored Jewish emancipation. Phenomena like conservative opposition to fighting Hitler and Truman’s recognition of Israel in 1948 kept Jews faithful to “the 'Torah’ of liberalism.” But Podhoretz calls on Jews to shift their allegiance, maintaining that Democratic attitudes toward Israel range from unsympathetic to passionately hostile while the Republicans, with some exceptions, have been solidly to fervently supportive since the end of the 1967 Six-Day War. Podhoretz writes scathingly about what he views as the Nation
magazine’s naked anti-Semitism, taking particular aim at a 1986 piece by Gore Vidal, but, refreshingly, also excoriates conservatives like Pat Buchanan and right-wing publications like Chronicles
magazine for their anti-Semitism. Although preaching to the converted and at times rambling, Podhoretz is an astute and joyously provocative and partisan observer of the political landscape.

July 1, 2009
Podhoretz is viewed as an articulate and prominent neoconservative (a term he vigorously rejects). He asks an important and puzzling question: since Jews, as a group, inhabit the upper realms of the socioeconomic scale, why do they continue to vote Democratic, which Podhoretz asserts is against their interests? The first half of this work describes why Jews have traditionally allied themselves with the Left as a way to liberate themselves from social oppression. Unfortunately, the second half has a whiny quality, as Podhoretz shows his frustration that his fellow Jews cant see the wisdom of turning rightward. He asserts that Republicans are stauncher in their support for Israel, but he ignores the fact that much of that unqualified support comes from the religious Right, a group that raises the hackles of Jews of various political persuasions. Podhoretz asks the right questions, but he fails to offer many enlightening answers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)