Jewish Leaders From Conservative Movement Praise Obama After WH Meeting With Rabbis

[babylonsister]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/jewish-leaders-praise-obama_n_1556130.html?ref=mostpopular

Jewish Leaders From Conservative Movement Praise Obama After White House Meeting With Rabbis
Jaweed Kaleem


A group of rabbis and leaders from the Conservative movement of Judaism are commending President Barack Obama after a White House meeting on Tuesday, when they questioned him on issues ranging from the environment and immigration to the Israel-Palestine conflict and sanctions against Iran.

The informal meeting was held in the Roosevelt Room of the White House with 19 leaders from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism (USCJ), which is the primary organization of the Conservative Jewish movement. It was scheduled to only be with White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew, but the president made an unscheduled appearance.

Rabbi Steven Wernick, chief executive officer of the USCJ, said the meeting was "warm and productive" and attempted to position his denomination as crucial to Obama's support among Jews.

snip//

While American Jews tend to largely vote Democratic, there have been claims that the president may lose support among Jews because of his policies toward the Middle East and his shaky relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But polls have shown that Obama, who won 78 percent of the Jewish vote in 2008, continues to have similar levels of support from American Jews. An April poll from the Public Religion Research Institute found that 62 percent of Jewish voters would vote for Obama over a generic Republican candidate. Among those who previously voted for Obama, 86 percent said they wanted him reelected. The poll also found that the economy is the top issue among most Jewish voters, while Israel is the top issue among 4 percent of the demographic.

More recently, the president's announcement that he supports same-sex marriage was hailed by the USCJ and the Union for Reform Judaism, but was criticized by Orthodox groups, including the Orthodox Union.

[KharmaTrain]

1. Conservatives Have Always Supported President Obama...

The lexicon here is confusing as conservatives are really "moderates"...the orthodox are your right wingers while the reform are on the left. It's the orthodox like Adelson that make up the majority of the Jewish rushpublicans. Most are likudniks and AIPAC members/supporters. Short of President Obama dropping nukes on Iran and Syria, they wouldn't be satisfied with him...and then they'd still hate him cause he's a "schvarter"...

[babylonsister]

2. Hi, KT!!

Long time! And thanks for that info; it's all pretty confusing to me.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Note that 'Conservative movement' in this connection does not mean politically conservative

Conservative Jews are religious Jews who are more traditionalist in their religious beliefs and practices than Reform Jews, but less so than Orthodox Jews.

In the UK and possibly elsewhere, they tend to call themselves by the Hebrew term 'Masorti' to avoid confusion with the political meaning of Conservative.

[LiberalFighter]

4. Those Orthodoxs should be asked

Have state or federal laws required your clergy to marry anyone that asks? Do clergy have the right to refuse to perform marriages to heterosexuals even if they belong to their synagogue?

Do current state same sex laws require clergy to marry same sex couples?