Not everyone can claim to be the neighbor of a Presidential candidate - I can, though, because I am.

Barack Obama’s Chicago home is across the street from KAM Isaiah Israel, the Hyde Park synagogue at which I’ve served for 27 years. He spoke to our congregation as an Illinois state senator; more recently, his Secret Service agents have made use of our, shall we say, facilities.

But it’s not neighborly instinct that’s led me to support the Obama candidacy: I support Barack Obama because he stands for what I believe, what our tradition demands.

We sometimes forget, but an integral part of that tradition is dialogue and a willingness to disagree. Certainly many who call me their rabbi have taken political positions far from mine - just as Barack Obama’s opinions have differed from those of his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

On March 18, the candidate gave a speech that made abundantly clear that he and Wright often disagree. Obama condemned Wright’s “incendiary language,” and “views that have the potential not only to widen the racial divide, but… that denigrate both the greatness and the goodness of our nation.” (more…)

Obama’s Jewish problem

In the days leading up to the Super Tuesday presidential primary sweepstakes, the Obama campaign has been making a special effort to reach out to Jewish voters. Representatives of the campaign have been visiting Jewish retirement homes, synagogues, and wherever else they can find a willing audience. Faced with Clinton campaigners making charges that he is not sufficiently pro-Israel, Obama himself wrote a letter to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Khalizad last week urging that the U.S. reject any resolution critiquing Israel’s cut off of fuel and food to a million residents of Gaza “that does not fully condemn the rocket assaults Hamas has been conducting on civilians in southern Israel.”

It’s a problem that won’t go away. Jewish voters are only 2 percent of the U.S. population, but they are mostly concentrated in the states with the highest number of delegate and electoral votes (New York, California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Illinois), they contribute financially to politicians disproportionately to their percentage of the voters, and they are often in key roles as opinion shapers in the communities in which they work or live. (more…)

The smear campaign against Senator Obama has been targeted to the Jewish community and its leadership. It is full of lies, innuendos, and guilt by association. It is an insult not only to Senator Obama, but to the American Jewish Community and its leadership as well.

Senator Obama has long been a friend of the state of Israel. His voting record is clear in defense of Israel. My wife and I had the privilege of being guests at Senator Obama’s swearing in in January 2005. He was not sworn in using a Koran, but rather was sworn in on a bible, held by his wife Michelle.

Personally, I’m supporting Senator Obama because the Book of Proverbs says “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” For far too long, we have had leadership in this country without a vision. Senator Obama represents a change. He is a man of vision, integrity, courage, and true leadership. He is a man of deep faith and a person we can support.

I’d like to ask you, if you get one of these emails, to please forward this response to anyone who might have sent that to you. And please, in your own way, do everything you can to discredit those lies and smears. They should not be part of our political debate.