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POLITICAL

BELIEFS

These are a few of our stances on popular political issues,
with Judaism informing and supporting each perspective.
Economic Freedom

 

Judaism has a long history of helping the poor through personal charity and funding communities through wealthy benefactors. High taxation and a welfare state are removing the chance for individuals to do what they see as good with their own money. Individuals value making good choices with their own money far more than bureaucrats who are not playing with their own money.

Abortion

 

Even though Judaism permits abortion under very few circumstances, the government should not involve itself in the relevant distinctions. The couple having the child can decide what would be sufficiently threatening to the life of the mother to justify an abortion, and they can voluntarily involve as many family members, friends, doctors, and religious authorities as they choose.

Prostitution

 

Jewish opinion about prostitution is not homogeneous, and that alone should provide the reason to return the choice to the individual. Jewish texts clearly allow prostitution under certain circumstances, and rules are even provided for who may and may not participate in the practice. While modern opinions are widely against prostitution, we must leave moral decision making to individuals and not weigh a choice against perfection.

Drugs

Wine is spoken of in Psalms as gladdening the human heart, and tradition deals with alcohol as a good when used in moderation and for the right purposes. Knowing that alcohol is often genuinely damaging to the body, a broader stance on other substances can be taken. If other drugs gladden the heart and cause damage equal to or less than alcohol does, it becomes very easy to permit their use and stop controlling their users.

Antisemitism

 

Antisemitism needs to be brought back to its original meaning. Violence against Jews and their property merely for being Jewish is antisemitism. Calling someone a kike is rude, but there is no threat from this. This thin skin and its accompanying pearl clutching led the ADL to declaring a cartoon frog to be a hate symbol. We must radically disconnect attacks on individuals and their property from what is at most emotionally upsetting.

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanction (BDS)

 

The BDS movement is inherently bigoted in fundamental ways. Any critique of a country's policies should always be allowed, but a critique of a country's existence is unacceptable. If someone proposed ridding the world of Japan, it is easy to see how that would be anti-Japanese. Saying Israel should not exist is no different, and boycotting the only Jewish country in the world is no coincidence with other countries' rights records.

Gun Rights

 

Gun Rights are an obvious component of an individual's right to self-preservation, but gun ownership is best understood when viewed as an anti-tyranny mechanism. The totalitarians of the 20th century killed tens or hundreds of millions of their own citizens, all of whom had been made soft targets by their governments. Arms make both individuals and populations hard targets, which is especially necessary for Jews.

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