A New Tribe

Well, either Evangelical Christians believe, as this research demonstrates, that Trump was anointed by God, which is more cult voodoo than actual Christianity…or, they easily identify with sexual predators.

78% of Evangelicals STILL support Trump, only down 2% from the election. 71% of Orthodox Jews, including Modern Orthodox Jews, strongly support Trump. Whereas, 79% of all other American Jews DISAPPROVE of Trump.

Orthodox Jews identify much more with the Christian far right than they do with liberal Jews. And here’s the shocker: EVEN when Evangelical Christian and Trump’s public policies and laws regarding women, birth control, abortion, and other issues are directly OPPOSED to actual Jewish Halachah/Law. Which means, the large majority of Orthodox Jews have abandoned authentic Judaism in favor of identity politics.

That’s the cultural war we are in. That’s why we found even Modern Orthodox Jews refusing to condemn the Neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, including a rabbi here in my city. Modern is a highly misleading term.

I’ve lived through this divergence. I’ve lived among Orthodox and Ultra-Orthodox Jews who consistently had nefarious,  insane agendas, all while asserting they were morally superior. Racist, misogynistic, homophobic…that was just on the surface. The evil and corruption went much deeper than that.

We really need to wake up. When we talk about being ‘woke’ – regarding civil justice or feminist or gender equality or just basic human decency – we need to really understand how that applies to being a Jew – in America, Israel, or anywhere in the world.

Unfortunately, we are not one people. The sooner we absorb that truth, the safer we’ll be. Because we Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist, or secular Jews – we are still operating under the old, kindhearted notions.

But the Orthodox, the Evangelicals, the Trump supporters – they are digging in deeper. The insular lifestyle they’ve pursued for decades has become permanent. They have abandoned everyone but themselves – actually, including themselves. They’re like a cult that’s made a suicide pact.

Oh, and fyi…there is a generational divide within both Evangelical Christians and among Orthodox and Modern Orthodox Jews – attachment to Israel by these religious millenials and post-millenials is markedly down. In some cases, their support of Israel is only half that of their white, male, much older generational counterparts.

What this means for more liberal or secular Christians and Jews is that we need to examine our self-identity in the wake of #Metoo, #BlackLivesMatter and #MarchForOurLives. We need to make clear both our priorities and loyalties.

Everyone bemoans the cultural divide. But maybe it’s here in order to force us to step out of our comfort zone and truly examine our real values, and how to best live by them. We need to choose our own tribe to belong to and align with – regardless of religion, nationality, region, gender or race.

The old tribes are gone. Time to move on to something far more holy.