Russian and American Jews: A Growing Political Divide

There is a divide brewing in American politics. It is a divide over values, priorities, and perceptions of interest. It has split one of the most politically uniform voting blocs in the country and may impact the face of the entire community for generations to come. What I am speaking of is the growing rift in the American Jewish community, between American born Jews and their immigrant Russian counterparts. Between these groups, there is a stark divide over what constitutes “Jewish” interests in America: does the future lie in the modern liberal camp, with a universalist ideal? Or should the lives, economic prosperity, and political power of Jews come before the liberal flagship issues? Across the gamut of the day’s hot-button questions, from affirmative action to social values, and especially on issues concerning national security and Israel, the two communities are growing further and further apart. In this article, I argue that such a divide is not only beneficial for the Jewish community politically, as it creates greater inter-party competition for the Jewish vote and weakens the solid Jewish Democratic wall, but also that it allows for a renewed debate as to what the “Jewish interest” really is.

In a commentary published in the Opinion Journal, writer Tony Carnes describes a vivid example of how the Jewish political divide is starting to play out. He describes a clash between Larry Lowenthal, the Executive Director of the Boston Branch of the American Jewish Committee, and its growing Russian membership:

“His job…includes finding and training leaders from among the 700,000 Russian Jews who have immigrated to the U.S. in the last 30 years. Mr. Lowenthal’s idea of a faithful Jew is someone who opposes

the nomination of Judge John Roberts to the U.S. Supreme Court, supports gay rights, abortion and euthanasia, and demands a strong separation of church and state. After all, as Mr. Lowenthal concluded approvingly in a July oped for the Jewish Advocate, Jews are ‘the most liberal’ and ‘the least religious people in America.’ Imagine his consternation when an avalanche of emails from Russian Jews began to pour in to the Web site of the Jewish Russian Telegraph…about 100 people wrote to say that Mr. Lowenthal needed to stop making ‘outrageous statements’ on behalf of people whom he doesn’t represent” (Carnes, 2005).

Lowenthal’s attacks on a Hassidic Jewish organization for putting up a menorah on public property, and his praise for the Islamic Society of Boston, which distributed literature of a number of clerics supporting suicide bombings, only aggravated the tension with the Russian-Jewish community.

Jonathan Sarna, Professor of American Jewish History at Brandeis, wrote in the Boston Globe on October 10, 2004, the eve of the last Presidential election: “Jews from the former Soviet Union prefer the Republicans to the Democrats. Some 400,000 of these Jews have emigrated to the United States over the past 30 years, and many of them cast their first votes for Ronald Reagan, whose anticommunism they admired. They then continued to vote for his Republican successors. In New York, these Jews have consistently supported candidates known to be tough on crime and conservative on moral issues, notably New York’s Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. A recent poll of 789 Russian Jews in New York has them supporting Bush by a margin of 54 to 14 percent, with the rest undecided” (Sarna, 2004). Walter Ruby of the Jewish Week also confirms the Russian shift: his research analyzing survey responses to a randomly sampled group of 2,300 Russian Jews in New York’s Metropolitan Area shows that the community is mostly secular and continues to suffer from starkly high unemployment rates. Nevertheless, despite having a partisan split leaning toward the Democrats throughout the 1990s, social conservatism and a hawkish stance on Israel has moved the community further right. As he describes:

“On the question of whether there should be an amendment to the U.S. Constitution making same-sex marriages unconstitutional, 81 percent of Russian Jews supported such a ban. American Jews as a whole were as overwhelmingly opposed with a 74-24 percent margin. The Russian-speaking and overall Jewish community also differed greatly on the notion of a Palestinian state. Russian-speaking Jews expressed opposition to the idea by 51 percent to 26 percent, with 23 percent undecided. The overall American Jewish community supported the establishment of a Palestinian state, 57-37 percent, with 6 percent undecided. The Russian survey showed striking levels of unemployment and poverty in the New York Russian community, with only 41 of the respondents employed full time and 53 percent unemployed. Sixty-seven percent of the respondents reported family income of less than $30,000 a year.” (Ruby, 2004).

In addition, Russian Jews are heavily opposed to affirmative action, favor Bush’s handling of the economy, and firmly support the War on the Terror and the invasion of Iraq.

With the exception of support for ondemand abortion, which 66% of Russian and 74% of American-born Jews back, the two groups are divided on just about everything, and have a fundamentally different view about what American Jewish interests, and Jewish interests more broadly, should be. American Jews – most descending from the Eastern European immigrant wave of the last century – have grown to embrace a progressive economic, social, and foreign policy. They see themselves as Americans first and Jews second. Support for affirmative action, social liberalism, progressive economic initiatives, and a weaker regard for Israel and national security related issues, make for a very universalist view of Jewish interests. In contrast, Russian Jews see themselves as Jews first and Americans second, place national security and Israel as two of the most important issues impacting the Jewish community, disdain leftist economic and social policies based on their decades of living under Soviet oppression, and tend to be much more nationalistic. They also regard American Jews as scared to stand up for singularly Jewish interests and feel ignored by the Jewish political establishment. There is no doubt that this division, at least at the present time, is directly impacting the American political landscape, and has seriously reinvigorated debate about what policies Jewish citizens should and should not support.

These shifts parallel similar splits among young Jewish voters, making both parties think twice about their traditional advantages and handicaps with this vital constituency. The Democrats take the Jewish vote

for granted (76% in the 2004 election according to DNC chair Howard Dean), which only serves to weaken their ability to accommodate the interests of this rapidly diversifying group. Having spoken to a senior staffer at the Republican Jewish Coalition last year, it is clear to me that the extent of the divide has not been lost on the GOP. Knowing Russian Jews’ hawkish positions on the Middle East, they are emboldened by statistics such as those of a recent poll by the Wall Street Journal and NBC, which showed 84% of surveyed Republicans and only 43% of Democrats backing Israel’s actions in Lebanon.

As any young immigrant population, the Russian Jewish community is developing and assimilating. While the elderly continue to be heavily reliant on state financial assistance, young and middle aged immigrants are rapidly finding stable employment and making strong academic strides. The interests of American Jews extend far beyond any single issue, as evidenced by the myriad conflicting opinions in the Orthodox community, as well as the growing number of famous Jewish foreign policy theorists and academics. Yet despite the cross-party movements of some members, the general trend remains one of division for the foreseeable future.