In the Oct. 10 issue of The Chronicle, Rabbi Bernhard Rosenberg (a New Jersey rabbi who apparently thinks that we Midwestern Jews cannot think for ourselves) expresses his view that Jews who follow “the faith of our fathers” should support Donald Trump because of his supposed pro-Israel policies.
I resent his holier-than-thou attitude. It is a central tenet of Jewish belief that the law of the land is the law. Since Donald Trump is a self-acknowledged criminal (using his political power to ask foreign governments to dig up dirt on his political opponents), it should be our religious duty to oppose him, not support him.
More significantly, education about the Holocaust has been a central component of Jewish education in recent decades, and we generally teach that “Never Again” should apply not only to Jews but to all people. Trump’s tacit permission to the Turks to commit genocide against the Kurds is not something that we should overlook simply because we are not the ones under attack.
Stu Lewis
Prairie Village, Kansas