Incumbent on Every Jew

Robert P. George looks at Jewish opposition to David Weprin, the pro-SSM Democrat who lost the race to replace Anthony Weiner, and finds a parallel with Catholic controversies over denying communion:

As a member of the New York state legislature, Weprin, despite his Orthodox Jewish beliefs, voted to redefine marriage to include same-sex partnerships.  This, the  rabbonim  declared, was  chillul Hashem —-a desecration, or bringing of shame, on God’s name. The rabbis went on to say that “Weprin’s claim that he is Orthodox makes the  chillul Hashem  even greater.”

Catholics, of course, will immediately recall controversies in recent years about the statements and actions of bishops who have criticized (and in some cases excluded from Holy Communion) Catholic politicians who support abortion and embryo-destructive research.  Those with lengthier memories will also recall the controversy in the 1950s surrounding New Orleans Archbishop Joseph Rummel’s decision to excommunicate three Catholic members of the Louisiana state legislature for defying his teaching against support for segregationist polilcies.

The letter from the  rabbonim  went farther than anything I recall Catholic bishops saying by asserting that under Jewish law “it is incumbent on every Jew” to support and vote for Weprin’s opponent, “if the opposing candidate is committed to safeguarding the moral values that made made this Republic great, including the educational, religious. and parental freedoms of Torah adherents, defending family values, opposing abortion on demand, protecting the moral environment, opposing the radical LGBT  (To’aiva)  agenda, including opposing legislation of civil unions, as well as defending the security of our brothers internationally, particularly in Eretz Yisroel.”

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