How Ben Shapiro makes Conservatism Radioactively Toxic to American Jews

In my previous post (here), I expressed my disapproval for Ben Shapiro’s crusade to purify conservatism and expel anyone from the label who fails to meet his rigid definition of conservative ideology. In this post, I write on a topic targeted at and which may primarily be of interest only to Jewish readers. Specifically, my disapproval of Ben Shapiro as the emerging de facto voice of politically conservative Jews. (I certainly welcome non-Jewish readers, but caution that I’ve presumed the reader’s knowledge of some common sectarian infighting within American Judaism which while well known and understood by American Jews living it, might be foreign to and misunderstood by others.)

Elders have always used tales of monsters and predators to keep children away from things deemed unsafe. For American Jewish children growing up outside of an Orthodox sect, left leaning (and in their view, well intending) elders warn that the Republican party is filled with nothing but Jew-hating Ku Klux Klan members, zealous Christian evangelical cultists and radical ultra-Orthodox Jews. The right’s institutions are thereby rendered radioactive taboos — commingle with them and they’ll either try to lynch you or convert you. And even for Jewish kids who become young adults disinterested in politics, the mythology is enough to stifle passing curiosity about the right, and maintain the familial tradition of voting, thinking, and speaking out for the left.

That’s one dynamic in the community, and while powerful, there are still significant numbers of non-Orthodox Jews who are disillusioned of these myths and either occasionally or consistently vote Republican and otherwise support conservative institutions. Indeed, in raw numbers non-Orthodox Jews outnumber Orthodox as Republican voters (I’m assuming Orthodox make up 10% of American Jewry, 66% of which voted for Romney in 2012 and using that as a proxy). This creates an awkward situation where although it’s true that as a sect Orthodox are more conservative and (arguably) more active within the American right’s institutions, they’re actually outnumbered by the non-Orthodox therein. I describe the situation as awkward because some of the de facto spokespeople for Jews on the right seem to mix their politics with their own sect’s worldview of Judaism, which at times is uncomfortable or even downright offensive to other Jews. And while the kind of rhetoric that emerges is not driving already settled Jews out of the right, it’s repelling moderate Jews who might otherwise be slowly but surely drawn to the right.

I’ll pick on Ben Shapiro because he tends to be the most outspoken. In his 2010 “An Open Letter to American Jews” Shapiro essentially excommunicated Democrat-voting, non-Orthodox Jews from the religion. He wrote, “Now, I understand, American Jews, that most of you don’t care about Israel…[you’re] more concerned about a woman’s unconditional right to abort her unborn child (which Judaism rejects) than you are about Israel.” He goes on to attack their adherence to Jewish conceptions of charity, denigrating them as “watered-down and perverted ‘tikkun olam’ sensibilities.” Shapiro has undoubtedly never spent much time at Reform synagogues. If he had, he’d meet Jews that despite profoundly different political views as his own, posses the same dream of Israel’s peaceful relations with its neighbors as his. He’d see Reform synagogues conducting charity food drives for local food pantries, fundraisers for Jewish and gentile foster children, and organized trips to visit otherwise family-less elderly. He’d be deeply ashamed of his words. And lest anyone dismiss his 2010 words as youthful indiscretion, in 2015 he took to Youtube and echoed the same rhetoric, “the vast majority of Jews don’t care about Judaism or Israel. They care about secular leftism, which is their religion.” He implies that only the Orthodox sect is comprised of “people who consider themselves fulfilling the commandments of the Torah.” (As if the Orthodox don’t have dirty laundry of their own…) He then embarks on a tirade that skirts the border of antisemitism:

Most Jews aren’t Jewish in any real sense beyond ethnic identification. They have nothing to do with Torah, the five books of Moses. They have nothing to do with the ethical system posited by Biblical Judaism. They have nothing to do with the mitzvot, the commandments. They have nothing to do with Israel. … Those who pretend to back both Judaism and left-wing values are betraying Torah Judaism.

Again, these are the words of an impudent, zealous ideologue who clearly has never spent much time getting to know the members of Reform, Conservative and other sectarian Jewish synagogues. He’d find their ranks filled with souls welcoming the light of Hashem into their hearts, proudly bearing the yoke of Judaism and its responsibilities. They may have been raised with different traditions than his, or at worst, uninformed. But if he knew them, he’d be ashamed of himself. (As forewarned by the Talmud’s “you don’t know whose blood is redder,” meaning one cannot know who is a better person in G-d’s eyes.)

But grant me the favor of erasing from your mind my unkind reaction and comments to Shapiro’s words. Maybe you even agree with him. That’s fine, but consider the effect such rhetoric has upon America’s non-Orthodox Jews who at various times in life explore the world of politics and morality, possibly uncomfortable with their present institutional allegiances and seeking to change. Consider the moderately left Jew who is curious about firearms ownership. Or maybe the Jewish family struggling to make ends meet and questions why their taxes are so high. The young teen-aged Jewish girl who despite what the feminists tell her, suspects that abortion might be morally wrong. The retiree in Boca Raton sensing that Israel always gets the short end of the stick under Democrats’ peace proposals. Put yourself in their shoes as best you can. Undoubtedly, you’d look to see where other Jews stand on the issues. Am I alone? Are there others who feel like me? Now imagine your Google search turns up Ben Shapiro. Much of the time, those candidates for conservative conversion will rush right back to warm and loving embrace of the left, terrified by Shapiro’s rabid, sanctimonious zealotry.

It’s time for conservatives to acknowledge that Ben Shapiro is killing the brand’s attractiveness to American Jews. To the many Reform and Conservative (like me) Jews who outnumber Shapiro’s Orthodox within the Republican party and other of the right’s institutions, anytime he strays from the topic of Israel (a topic on which I agree with him wholeheartedly) I find myself cringing. In my view he’s a terrible ambassador for political conservatism and the Jewish faith, and I know other conservative-minded Jews feel the same way.

At the moment I have no answer other than to try and make my voice heard, because it’s pretty obvious he has no plans to tone it down, especially with conservative media’s love of “shouting match” television appearances for which Shapiro is often sought out. He seems to be the right’s Jewish poster boy for now, with no competition currently on the horizon. I hope I’ve underestimated his thoughtfulness, and that somehow he’ll reflect on the image he projects, take his ambassadorial responsibilities more seriously, and change accordingly.