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Published on 15 December 2015
Jews against Trump
By Rob Eshman, published in the Jewish Journal December 8, 2015
In ways direct and subtle, the Jews of America and the Jews of France, the Jews of the left and the Jews of the right, the Jews of the Reform movement and the Jews of the Orthodox movement, have sent Donald J. Trump a message: Feh.
“Feh” is a Yiddish expression of disgust. And the fact that Trump could provoke such a uniform reaction from such a fractious people is a credit to the dumbness and darkness of his ideas.
His increasingly xenophobic and racist rhetoric reached a low point this week when he declared that under a Trump administration, America would close its borders to Muslims.
“We need a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States while we figure out what the hell is going on,” Trump said to cheers of approval from his supporters.
If Trump thought Jews, so often the targets of Islamic terrorism, would join the cheers, he really doesn’t get Jews. The reaction from Jewish organizations and leaders was immediate and uniformly negative.
Trump’s plan was “unacceptable and antithetical to American values,” Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan A. Greenblatt said in a written statement.
“The U.S. was founded as a place of refuge for those fleeing religious persecution, and religious pluralism is core to our national identity,” Greenblatt continued. “A plan that singles out Muslims and denies them entry to the U.S. based on their religion is deeply offensive and runs contrary to our nation’s deepest values.”
Greenblatt’s words echoed similar statements from across the Jewish political, religious and ideological spectrum. Last month, even the Orthodox Union joined in opposing Trump’s call to keep Syrian refugees out of America... Read more.