Oh Your God, you guys.

None of my candidates ever claimed they were endorsed by Jesus. This is a real screen shot of this woman's website. I wish I had caught this yesterday before she came in last place. I wonder how she justifies that.

Taking Back Religion: I Don't Swim in Your Toilet, Please Don't Jew in My Job.

Tonight at sundown begins "Days of Awe," one of the holiest times in the Jewish calendar. This is a time when Jews look back on the year behind us and forward to the year ahead, atone for our sins and ask God to inscribe us in the Book of Life. For me, as with everything else, it's impossible to separate these events from the election cycle, since I tend to imbue campaigns with an almost spiritual significance anyway. Coincidence that the High Holidays coincide with the final push toward GOTV? Debatable. That said, I want to make an impassioned plea for my rabbi to leave the election out of his sermon this holiday season.

One either under or over reported aspect of the Democratic National Convention (depending on where you get your news) was President Obama's insistence on including God in the Democratic platform. Glossing over my feelings on that as a politico (Anti! What is this, the McCarthy era? There's this little thing called separation of church and state! And what we just do stuff because the right wing dares us to now?) and my feelings on including Jerusalem as the capital of Israel (Pro! Either we recognize a government as legitimate or we don't. Plus Democrats do need the Jewish vote.) I was offended as a religious person. Who are you to assume we have the same concept of God? And who are you to use the Creator of the Universe to score political points? Bringing the election into religion cheapens both.

Last week I went to a seminar at my synagogue to get edJEWcated about the upcoming holidays. The presenter went on a long metaphor about how God is like Barack Obama and we've elected him our leader and now he makes the decisions. What? No! No! No! No! No! No! First of all, I'm pretty sure we didn't elect God. If we did, we certainly wouldn't be Jewish, since we make up .2% of the world's population. (Also, we didn't choose him, he chose us. That's what makes us the Chosen People.) Setting aside my religions beliefs, what really upsets me is that this metaphor absolves us of responsibility in our own government. To pretend that our relationship with our elected officials is one of absolute authority, rather than accountability is antithetical to our democracy. If our leaders have supreme power, then why do we vote? Or even if we vote, why do we engage after the election? Jewish text makes it clear that we have a responsibility to participate in the election regardless of how we vote.

Last year at Rosh Hashana services, the rabbi used our divided Congress as an example of the bickering and fray we should stay above in the upcoming year. I was LIVID. I don't want my religious leaders promoting political apathy! I don't need the rabbi at the one place I go to not think about elections using the sentiment that is the bane of my professional existence to get cheap laughs. I couldn't enjoy the rest of the service. Temple is the one place where I know I can go to concentrate on myself and my emotional well being. When you invoke elections, I feel like I have to be "on."

That brings me to another point. Religious leaders should not use modern political metaphors because they so often get it wrong. At the pre-holiday seminar I attended, the rabbinic fellow leading the conversation said the sentence ,"Let's say God gets 271 votes in the electoral college." My companion must have been relieved that I had lost my voice earlier that week because it kept me from shouting "270! He would only need 270!" It was distracting and it made it hard for me to take the rest of what he was saying seriously.

I realize I may be an anomaly, but for me elections just as much as religion are intensely personal, spiritual, and at the very core of who I am. When you blend the two together in a (no pun intended) unholy marriage, it's almost as if you're robbing me of the right to define myself. Telling me how elections work in synagogue is just as offensive as telling me how God works at the DNC. To borrow a phrase from VEEP, using political metaphors in your sermon is like trying to use a croissant as a dildo: It doesn't work and it makes a big mess. So here's the deal: You don't talk about the election at High Holiday services and I won't kick off a canvass from the bima.

L'Shana Tova,
Nancy

Rep Rebbe? Shmuley Boteach's Run for Congress

I first heard about Shmuley Boteach (Pronounced Bo-TAY-achk) when a friend posted an article about his book, Kosher Jesus, on my facebook wall. The article was Rabbi Boteach's rebuttal to (what he alleges were surprising) attacks on the "heretical" nature of the title by other Chabad rabbis. A quick Google search determined that this Rabbi was no stranger to notoriety. His other titles, such as Kosher Sex, had provoked similar if less virulent attacks, not to mention his television show, "Shalom in the Home," or his role as the late Michael Jackson's spiritual adviser. Two things were clear 1) This man liked being in the spotlight and 2)He was an incredibly charismatic speaker.

My interest was piqued and I was excited when I found him on the roster for Limmud NY, a Jewish learning conference I attended the following week. I was explaining what I knew about Rabbi Boteach to my conference companion when her more religiously devout brother came over to say hello. "You'd never heard of Shmuley Boteach?" he asked incredulously, as if he had walked in on me saying, "Have you heard of this Lady Gaga character? Apparently she makes quite the dance music." "Well," he said "the man knows how to sell a book."

We decided to attend his lecture (which was scheduled to be about greed but wound up being about "The Rebellious Man of Faith") and I think it's fair to say we were both pretty impressed. To anyone who grew up even remotely Jewish, Boteach has a certain avuncular charm and a warmth that I'd imagine is universal. Here was an Orthodox Rabbi joking about smoking pot, railing against anti-feminist forces in religion and promoting a doctrine of tolerance and acceptance. Yes, it was clear that Rabbi Shmuley enjoyed courting fame and controversy, but years of working around politicians had taught me to forgive these qualities in those who are intelligent and captivating.

So it should have come as no surprise when a few weeks later Boteach announced his intention to run for Congress, and for what it's worth, as a Republican.

"Why would a rabbi run for Congress? Because the problems we’re seeing in our great nation are not caused by an economic downturn but by a values erosion, and I intend to be the values voice that Congress so desperately needs."

Boteach offers a refreshing perspective on family values and one that, in part, I agree with.

"If I hear one more thing about same-sex marriage, I’m going to eat my yarmulke,” he said in an extended telephone interview. “It’s been a massive distraction.”

"The values that have dominated the American political landscape for decades are the American obsession with gay marriage and abortion, to the exclusion of nearly all others, which explains why our country is so incredibly religious yet so seemingly decadent. It’s time to expand the values conversation and policy agenda. Let’s begin with really saving the institution of marriage by focusing squarely on the outrageous 50 percent divorce rate. I will promote legislation that will fight marital breakdown by making marital counseling tax-deductible."

But for all his independence, the conclusions Boteach draws about the moral imperatives of our financial crisis are the myopic assertions of a man who has been able to rationalize his own financial success (and others' poverty) and still spends his time in a relatively insular community. If there's one liberal philosophy I would expect of an empathetic religious leader, it's caring for the poor. It is at best naive and at worst destructive to claim that our financial problems can be solved by

"recreat[ing] an American Sabbath so parents have an incentive to take their kids to a park rather than teaching them to find satisfaction in the impulse purchase....Beyond helping the family this will also help counter the growing materialism that continues to poison the American soul leading to the near-collapse of a $10 trillion economy just three years ago when we had homes that were never large enough, cars that were never new enough, and designer labels that were never fashionable enough."

And there's another issue at play. Boteach, despite his warmth and good intentions, is a bit of a loose cannon. I don't know that a man who deigns to be Michael Jackson's spiritual adviser or who intentionally incites controversy in his own community is the face I want on Jewish politicians. There are several Jews on the national political stage (Barbara Boxer, Al Franken, Bernie Sanders...) but the most vocal about his Judaism is Joe Lieberman and we all know how that worked out for the Democrats and the Jews.

Finally, at a time when religion is again on the rise in our political discourse (ahem, birth control) I would be just as pleased for Jews to sit this one out the side of religion creeping its way into politics. I don't suddenly oppose separation of Church and State just because the church is a synagogue and I like the rabbi.

There's a good chance Boteach won't make it past the primary and even if he does that he'll miss in the general. I hope for both our sakes that this is the case. Better the rabbi I'm surprised to love than the politician I'm loathe to hate.

Taking Back Religion FROM OUR SCHOOLS

"Because of this, people in public schools are going to get to know who Jesus Christ is."

The above video is from a mandatory meeting at a public school in South Carolina."I never get mad because they teach evolution." Umm...you don't get mad when they teach math and social studies either, right?

I was reflecting recently about how hard it would be for me to be part of a religion that evangelized. A man was screaming out bible verses on my way home from synagogue. I thought "Even though it makes people uncomfortable if you really, sincerely, believed that they would burn in fire for all eternity unless they changed, wouldn't you try to help them?" And then I thought, "That's why we have Separation of Church and State." If someone comes up to you on the street you can just walk away. If you go to a religious school it's your choice to attend. If you're uncomfortable at these places, you can leave. All children are required to attend public (or choose to go to private) school. I can't even imagine how uncomfortable a Jewish or Muslim or just non-religious student would feel at this assembly...or at the school afterwards. I think religion can play a hugely important role in a child's life, but no one ever got the benefits of religion by being coerced into it and the resentment that can stem from that kind of coercion is exactly why so many people distrust religion.

Please join me in signing the ACLU petition.

L'Shana Tova,
Nancy

Taking Back Religion- IN OUR OWN BACKYARD

Church sign in MEDFORD MASSACHUSETTS, displayed during Boston Pride.

Okay I assure you, I am not in some sort of weird Dan Savage cult. In fact, I made myself a promise after I posted that petition to lay off the slog-overs for a while. But this was SO relevant and in my own backyard. Maybe it's none of my Jewy,Jewy business, but I don't like the message this sign is sending about Medford or about organized religion.

I like this sign:

Feel free to include it in the email if you contact them which I encourage any and all Massachusetts Christians to do.

Click here for the link to Dan Savage's blog on the issue.

And now back to your regularly scheduled CampaignSickness...

Mitt Romney is an asshole

Maybe he's an asshole because he's Mormon. Maybe he's Mormon because he's an asshole. Maybe both and maybe neither. But I'm not not voting for him because he's Mormon, I'm not voting for him because he's an asshole.

Apparently lots of people disagree. A recent Quinnipiac poll shows that 26% of American are uncomfortable with the idea of a Mormon President. You can find the stats here for other religions as well.

Interestingly, Jews and Catholics rank above Evangelical Christians for acceptable Presidential religion(thanks President Bush)followed by Mormons, then Atheists then at the bottom Muslims. Stay classy, America.

So, if you are shopping for a religion for your Presidential run your best bet is generic/vague Protestant although Obama found out that can carry its own baggage.

Alternatively, we could judge politicians by,I don't know, how good they are at their jobs...but then I wouldn't have google news feeds with the word Weiner in them.

Taking Back Religion-Issue One

Orthodox Jews Lobbying Against Equal Marriage

Have you ever been SO FILLED WITH RAGE that you can barely form complete sentences? The day after I post about religious activism, I come upon this, a letter and corresponding propaganda from a bunch of Orthodox Jews protesting the "de-definition of marriage" (And you don't believe in fate...). I will spare you reproducing the part where they compare equal marriage to Sharia law and just copy and paste the body of the letter here:

Honorable Dean Skelos,

Thank you for your defense of Marriage in the past. We now plead with you: please do not hold yet another vote on de-defining Marriage. It would be an affront to the Creator, and threaten Religious Liberty for all Bible-believers.

The most effective way the Republicans have of attracting and keeping Orthodox Jewish support is by defending Marriage.

If the Republican Party cannot stand up for Marriage, they send a message that they do not truly stand for anything.

(We are NOT asking for funding, programs, or any special favors. We are simply begging you not to risk our religious liberties and our childrens' future.)

Also please realize that to include "religious exemptions" in any de-definition of marriage would be perhaps the greatest threat to Marriage. That would increase the likelihood of passage (as the recent Maryland experience shows.) By trying to delay our defeat, we would ensure it. Additionally, religious exemptions could never protect us - particularly private individuals and business-owners - from all the effects of this bill, nor could they render such an attack on the Bible "kosher."

Instead, we urge you to push for Senate passage of the Defense Of Marriage Act in NY, as introduced by the esteemed Senator Marty Golden.

Thank you very much. This issue is more important for our vote than any social service or material benefit. Our vote for you depends on your leadership in decisively defending Marriage.

I can't even...I just...I don't...DID YOU THINK WE LIVE IN A THEOCRACY? DO YOU UNDERSTAND THE IRONY OF JEWS TRYING TO DENY RIGHTS TO A SUBSET OF THE POPULATION? DO YOU REALIZE YOU ARE SO FAR ON THE FRINGE OF SOCIETY THAT WHEN I FIRST SAW THAT GRAPHIC I THOUGHT IT WAS AN ONION ARTICLE?

Phew. Okay. Now that I've gotten that out of my system, here is Senator Skelos' contact information:
Senator Dean Skelos
President Pro Tem
Majority Leader
332 State Capitol
Albany NY 12247
518-455-3171 / F: 426-6950
Skelos@NYSENATE.gov

And here is a link where you can find your own NY State Senator (upper lefthand corner of the page).

My letter to Sen. Skelos is below. Please feel free to copy and edit freely. If you're wondering where I got the 58% statistic, recent Quinnipiac poll reported here.

Dear Senator Skelos,

You recently received a letter from a fringe group of Orthodox Jews urging you to refuse to hold a vote that could potentially allow same-sex marriages to be performed in New York state. As a practicing Jew, I can assure you these attitudes do not reflect my own or those of the Jewish community at large. What's more the majority of New Yorkers (58%) support equal marriage. Not only is there a legal and moral imperative to allow same sex marriages in New York, but it also reflects the will of the people you were elected to represent. Despite your past actions, I trust that you will do the responsible and ethical thing and allow a bill rectifying these current discriminatory policies to reach the Senate floor.

Sincerely,
Nancy Leeds

Finally, I leave you with a quote from an Anti-DOMA letter written by Rabbi David Saperstein Director and Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism. The juxtaposition really demonstrates that the usefulness of religion, like a gun, or a vote, depends not on the thing itself, but on the character of the user.

Jewish tradition teaches, "And God created humans in God's own image, in the image of God, God created them; male and female God created them." (Genesis 1:27) We oppose discrimination against all individuals, including gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender men and women, for the stamp of the divine is imprinted on the souls of each and every one of us. As Jews, we have been among the quintessential victims of group hatred, persecution, and discrimination. We feel a keen empathy for those who can still be victimized, deprived of opportunities, jobs, or advancement because of their identity.

Please join me in taking action (even if you live in NY but are not religious.)
Love,
Nancy

Separation of Church and Hate

I believe in God. It's not just that I'm culturally Jewish nor simply that I think there is some higher universal cosmic force. I unequivocally, balls out, believe in God.

I'm struggling as I write this, not because I am unsure of my faith, but because I believe religion is deeply personal. As a Field Organizer, I always marveled at the voters who refused to tell me whom they were voting for, but sent me off with a "God Bless You" or had Jesus Fish on their cars. In my mind this was irony exemplified. I couldn't care less what they did with their Sunday mornings, whereas their vote actually affected me.

Of all the tenets I hold, my belief in God feels the most controversial. My favorite comedians always seem to be those who poke fun at religion in a "How-could-you-rationally-believe-that?" sort of way. David Cross and Myq Kaplan come to mind.

I am huge fan of Dan Savage. I listen to his podcast and read his blog religiously and the thing that makes me squirm is not discussion of felching or sounding, but the way he talks about religion. He even has a segment O They Will Know We Are Christians where he highlights religious personnel who have been caught engaging in extremely amoral acts. This week he and guest co-host Jen McCreight went off on organized religion calling all religion "silliness" and equating leaving a religious community to "escape." (Click to listen.)

Although ninety percent of Americans say they believe in God, the East Coast liberal elite circles in which I travel do not reflect this statistic. The vast majority of my friends are atheist and some are fairly anti-religious. Once I was staying with a friend and was on my way to services when I casually mentioned I would put in a good word for him to which he replied "I will put in a word with the flying spaghetti monster for you." Between the ipso facto leap in logic that it takes to have faith and the anti-gay, anti-sex, anti-woman, anti-decency attitude espoused by many in the name of religion, when I tell people that I believe in God or that I participate in organized religion, I either get an incredulous or disgusted "How can you?"

I hate that the people I love and respect can't love and respect something so important to me, but on the other hand, I don't really blame them.

When somebody tells me s/he's a Republican "because I believe in small government," I basically react the same way. I probably wouldn't vote Republican even if we voted on espoused economic platform alone, but as it is, I can't even stomach the thought. "How," I ask my hypothetical friend, "can you align yourself with a party that encourages ignorance, that wants to treat gays and lesbians as second class citizens, that wants to deny access to sexual education and birth control while making abortion illegal even in cases of rape and incest?" You know what else is famous for these very same things? Organized religion.

There are of course Republicans who don't hate gay people or sex or birth control. And to them I say "Where the hell are you? If you're so concerned about the negative image your party has, why don't you change it? Why don't you vote in primaries against extremists and refuse to support them in general elections?"

I'm a Jew for the same reasons I'm a Democrat. Both groups have a strong belief in advocacy, in alleviating suffering, and in social justice. I'm not recommending it for everyone, but it works for me. But more often when people think of the intersection of religion and politics they think of this.

So, my faithful friends,where the hell are we? As people of faith, Jewish, Christian, etc, alike, it is our responsibility to take back our own communities, and not allow hateful, bigoted people to speak for us. I wrote this post because I want you to know that Michelle Bachmann, Fred Phelps and their ilk don't speak for me.

We need to take action. When a politician comes along and tries some bullshit in the name of religion, we need to stand up and say "that's not my God!" We need to work doubly hard on the side of sanity and we need to write those politicians and tell them that by misrepresenting us, they've lost our votes. We need to hold our religious leaders accountable too. (And it can be done. Just recently Jewish Theological Seminary ordained its first openly lesbian rabbi.)Sure, religion still won't make sense to atheists, but I guarantee when it stops interfering with their sex, work, and love lives, they'll stop caring.

Look forward to updates on where to write and how to get involved on my blog. And in the mean time, Reform Jews, check out the Religious Action Center.

So Jewish I ate a BLT last night,
Nancy