true reason why jews vote democrat

[NY Jew]

Most Jews who came to this country from 1880-1900 were Orthodox jews and due to many factors when they got here there young children left Orthodoxy and became more assimilated. To prove my point to you one of the classic reasons given why jews were so strongly involved in the labor movement was because of the exploiting in the sweatshops but what they don't focus on is why Jews originally joined the sweatshops as opposed to the factories like the Irish and Italians mostly did. The reason was because originally a jew could get a job in the sweatshops and keep the sabbath which would have been impossible to take off in a factory. Many Jews therefore voluntary went into the unregulated sweatshops to avoid working on sabbath. Many of the second generation kids grew up in this environment where keeping sabbath would mean you would lose your job. The fact that this was such a big issue at the time is clear from the fact that the 2 names America was referred to at the time was the "golden land" and the "trefa (non kosher) land" Using the argument of separation of church and state was one the main way that they tried to fight the blue laws. But to the jews who were arguing that what they really cared about was Sabbath not separation of church and state (as opposed to even as early the 40's-60's where that clearlly really was the issue )

The way this was finally won for the most part was a Jewish labor alliance pushing for the 5 day work week. Even the biggest labor leaders agreed that the only reason they were successful was because of Orthodox Jews (who by this time were no longer even close to the majority of all jews).

eventuality as Non Orthodox Jews abandoned Judaism the new set of "religious" principles that were adopted based on the problems of the 1st and 2nd generation American jews, and zero regards for context.

[Хahar 🤔]

I take it you're not familiar with the Bund, then.

[NY Jew]

I take it you're not familiar with the Bund, then.

I'm very familiar with the Bund but they were not even a plurality of all jews.

from 1880-1900 most Jewish Immigrants were Orthodox.

the 1924 Immigration bill and Coolidge's refusing to condemn the KKK also played into it

[Brittain33]

My great-grandfather was a socialist but that heritage is long gone. My parents are both moderate Republicans for different reasons. My father's a small businessman in a polluting industry, my mother has idiosyncratic views.

Stupid me, this conservative-turned-secular Jew ended up more Democratic because I took to heart the lessons of tzdakah and tikkun olam I learned in Hebrew School.

[Beet]

Given the birth rate among Orthodox in Israel, they will soon be a majority of Jews worldwide. I am not sure what the numbers are for birth rate of Orthodox Jews in the US.

Take this article from nearly a decade ago:

"Before long, as Bruce Phillips has concluded, “there will be fewer practitioners of Judaism” in the United States, and “this development will at some point become evident in the number and/or size of synagogues and other Jewish institutions.”

But this brings us to the one major exception to the general rule—namely, Orthodox Jews. Not only do the Orthodox suffer many fewer losses from intermarriage, but their fertility rate is far above the Jewish norm. As against the overall average of 1.86 children per Jewish woman, an informed estimate gives figures ranging upward from 3.3 children in “modern Orthodox” families to 6.6 in Haredi or “ultra-Orthodox” families to a whopping 7.9 in families of Hasidim. These numbers are, of course, difficult to pin down definitively, but anecdotal evidence is compelling. In a single year, according to a nurse at one hospital in the Lakewood, New Jersey area serving a right-wing Orthodox population, 1,700 babies were born to 5,500 local families, yielding a rate of 358 births per thousand women. (The overall American rate is 65 births per thousand women.)"

http://www.simpletoremember.com/articles/a/jews-and-jewish-birthrate/

In recent years, the birth rate among the Haredi Jews in Israel has been rising (from an average of eight children per woman to nine children), so it's possible the numbers are even more stark since this article was first published.

[NY Jew]

My great-grandfather was a socialist but that heritage is long gone. My parents are both moderate Republicans for different reasons. My father's a small businessman in a polluting industry, my mother has idiosyncratic views.

Stupid me, this conservative-turned-secular Jew ended up more Democratic because I took to heart the lessons of tzdakah and tikkun olam I learned in Hebrew School.

more tzdakah is given by Orthodox jews then non Orthodox jews (see federation studys for proof)

and you should know tikkun olam in Judaism doesn't mean what you think it does.

[NY Jew]

Given the birth rate among Orthodox in Israel, they will soon be a majority of Jews worldwide. I am not sure what the numbers are for birth rate of Orthodox Jews in the US.

here also
% stats of Borough Park (using wide boundaries)


Overall population:
White 75.0%
Black 1.1%
Hispanic 13.0%
Asian 9.7%
Native 0.1%
Other 1.1%

Under 18 population:
White 86.3%
Black 0.4%
Hispanic 7.6%
Asian 4.8%
Native 0.1%
Other 1.0%

[Brittain33]

My great-grandfather was a socialist but that heritage is long gone. My parents are both moderate Republicans for different reasons. My father's a small businessman in a polluting industry, my mother has idiosyncratic views.

Stupid me, this conservative-turned-secular Jew ended up more Democratic because I took to heart the lessons of tzdakah and tikkun olam I learned in Hebrew School.

more tzdakah is given by Orthodox jews then non Orthodox jews (see federation studys for proof)

and you should know tikkun olam in Judaism doesn't mean what you think it does.

That's fine, I'm not going to dispute if you say Orthodox Jews are awesome and the true Jews and all that, I'm just saying it's a big reason why this non-Orthodox, non-Socialist Jew aligned with the Dems as a teenager.

[NY Jew]

My great-grandfather was a socialist but that heritage is long gone. My parents are both moderate Republicans for different reasons. My father's a small businessman in a polluting industry, my mother has idiosyncratic views.

Stupid me, this conservative-turned-secular Jew ended up more Democratic because I took to heart the lessons of tzdakah and tikkun olam I learned in Hebrew School.

more tzdakah is given by Orthodox jews then non Orthodox jews (see federation studys for proof)

and you should know tikkun olam in Judaism doesn't mean what you think it does.

That's fine, I'm not going to dispute if you say Orthodox Jews are awesome and the true Jews and all that, I'm just saying it's a big reason why this non-Orthodox, non-Socialist Jew aligned with the Dems as a teenager.

1. the reason why I responded the way I did was you implied that Orthodox didn't care about tzdakah.
2. and you weren't influenced by your parents? my answer answers the question why non Orthodox jews vote democrat more then any other white demographic. 
3. My answer historically answer why non orthodox jews adopted voting "principles" that are counter to Judaism.

[Brittain33]

1. the reason why I responded the way I did was you implied that Orthodox didn't care about tzdakah.

No, I didn't. I wasn't implying anything about Orthodox Jews and I know nothing about Orthodox Jewish education. I was just describing a major influence on my being a Democrat because you put forth an argument that did not ring true to me.

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My parents didn't discuss politics with me. I think I was surprised when I learned that my father was a reasonably staunch Republican. My mother's politics aren't coherent and aren't personality-based.

Her father was a Democrat not because he was a socialist but because he was a lawyer in a machine county controlled by Dems. That has zero relevance to voting patterns now. My father's father was apolitical.

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American politics and issues are far too diverse and, in many cases, unforeseen by the Bible to be considered "for" or "counter" to Judaism. Even if you feel confident that you have the answers.

[I'm JewCon in name only.]

This thread is pointless. There are many reasons why Jews vote Democrat.


But not all Jews vote Democrat.

I'm a Jewish Republican, and I support the GOP because of Israel,  and my naturally conservative viewpoints on social and economic issues.

[Oakvale]

This thread turned me anti-Semitic.

[ag]

There is a VERY good reason for the Jews, both Orthodox and otherwise, to vote for secularist candidates in the US: the last time I checked, the US was a Christian majority country.  If the "wall of separation" between church and state is ever breached, it is the religious Jews that will face the brunt of the unpleasantness.

[ag]

One thing to note. While the Russian Jews themselves, especially those over 50, tend to be the Orly Taitz type, they are quite secular (in many cases their concession to the religious tradition is limited to not eating pork during Passover) and their kids tend to assimilate into the general liberal secular US Jewry, with everything it implies for their voting preferences. Of course, the extended Brighton Beach is heavy in the rump unassimilated vote, but it would be wrong to expect that electorate to stay conservative in a generation.

[BigSkyBob]

Liberals voting for the more liberal party, I'm shocked!

[traininthedistance]

There is a VERY good reason for the Jews, both Orthodox and otherwise, to vote for secularist candidates in the US: the last time I checked, the US was a Christian majority country.  If the "wall of separation" between church and state is ever breached, it is the religious Jews that will face the brunt of the unpleasantness.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that Muslims and atheists will have it worse.  Anti-semitism is pretty much not tolerated anywhere in the USA, even among most theocratic-leaning Evangelicals.  Whereas the two groups I mentioned are still fair game for hatred and discrimination.

Obviously this does not change the fact that most Jews have very good reasons to vote Democratic.  They tend to be better-educated and more secular than your average American (and a large fraction of ethnic Jews are in fact atheist), which leads to realizing things like "women should have control over their own health decisions" and "gay people are people too and deserve the same rights" and "hey, anthropogenic climate change is a real problem", and once you've accepted those ought-to-be-uncontroversial statements you really have no choice but to vote Democratic.

[NY Jew]

There is a VERY good reason for the Jews, both Orthodox and otherwise, to vote for secularist candidates in the US: the last time I checked, the US was a Christian majority country.  If the "wall of separation" between church and state is ever breached, it is the religious Jews that will face the brunt of the unpleasantness.

that's funny the biggest threat to Judaism is clearly coming from the left (remember San Francisco's attack on circumcision)

[NY Jew]

There is a VERY good reason for the Jews, both Orthodox and otherwise, to vote for secularist candidates in the US: the last time I checked, the US was a Christian majority country.  If the "wall of separation" between church and state is ever breached, it is the religious Jews that will face the brunt of the unpleasantness.

Actually, I'm pretty sure that Muslims and atheists will have it worse.  Anti-semitism is pretty much not tolerated anywhere in the USA, even among most theocratic-leaning Evangelicals.  Whereas the two groups I mentioned are still fair game for hatred and discrimination.

Obviously this does not change the fact that most Jews have very good reasons to vote Democratic.  They tend to be better-educated and more secular than your average American (and a large fraction of ethnic Jews are in fact atheist), which leads to realizing things like "women should have control over their own health decisions" and "gay people are people too and deserve the same rights" and "hey, anthropogenic climate change is a real problem", and once you've accepted those ought-to-be-uncontroversial statements you really have no choice but to vote Democratic.

You do know that Jews are the group that suffer from the most hate crimes per capita.


Better education is more more of reason to vote against a group that hates you.

and all this misses the main point as to why most jews would vote for things that Judaism abhors.

If you understand Jewish history what I said on top explains it all.

[Okay, maybe Mike Johnson is a competent parliamentarian.]

I like how you're talking about your own religion as a monolithic entity that is static over space and time and can be analyzed separately from the rest of existence.

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

One thing to note. While the Russian Jews themselves, especially those over 50, tend to be the Orly Taitz type, they are quite secular (in many cases their concession to the religious tradition is limited to not eating pork during Passover) and their kids tend to assimilate into the general liberal secular US Jewry, with everything it implies for their voting preferences. Of course, the extended Brighton Beach is heavy in the rump unassimilated vote, but it would be wrong to expect that electorate to stay conservative in a generation.

Example: Ilya Sheyman. While he's never specified what his parents' views are, he's a great example of a very young, Generation Y member of the eastern European Jewish community who is also extremely progressive.

[ag]

Example: Ilya Sheyman. While he's never specified what his parents' views are, he's a great example of a very young, Generation Y member of the eastern European Jewish community who is also extremely progressive.

Oh, it's the common lament of middle-aged Russian Jewish parents: their kids do not share their views. Actually, it's more like their kids dread their parents ever opening their mouths to talk politics in public. Just imagine, being a run-off-the-mill good Jewish kid, who's gone to Harvard or Berkeley, who volunteers for good causes etc., and whose Dad has Reagan's portrait onf the front page of his family photo album and is convinced that Obama is a Kenyan-born Muslim who wants to bomb Israel. The worst thing is, the same Dad, half the time, is equally vocal about Putin being the best thing that ever happened to Russia (unless, of course, he is determined that those Russians who stayed are all subhuman and Moscow should be nuked).

[traininthedistance]

Better education is more more of reason to vote against a group that hates you.

I have no idea what you're trying to say with this sentence.

I'll agree that the circumcision ban was a horrible, discriminatory idea, and thank goodness it was blocked.  But you have to keep in mind it was equally anti-Muslim, and furthermore I'm quite confident that a wide majority of Americans both left and right recognize that it ought to be blocked.  I don't see a justification to equate the obsessions of one small activist group with all left-leaning individuals.

[Oakvale]

I don't really buy that banning the en masse mutilation of children is some kind of socialist plot, but whatever.