Rabbis at the DNC

As reported in The Forward, the invocation prior to Obama's acceptance speech, before a full house of 75,000 Obama supporters at INVESCO Field, will be given by Reform Rabbi David Saperstein. Rabbi Saperstein has been at the forefront of Jewish activism for peace and justice for thirty years as the director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Weinreb, Executive Vice President of the Orthodox Union, will give one of the keynote speeches at an interfaith event with Christian and Muslim religious leaders. Weinreb said in a statement that he views the decision to invite him to the convention as “the Democratic Party's ‘endorsement’ of the critical role religious faiths play in American life.”

Click here for an overview from The Jerusalem Post of the Jewish scene at both conventions this year.

Many of us at Jews for Obama were drawn into supporting Obama by a determination to fight the smears being made against a clearly decent, committed public servant. We come from all over the Jewish spectrum to support Barack Obama, and we work to understand and respect each other although we do not always agree.

We work together to support a man running for President who offers a new way of thinking about American politics — a sensible and wholesome approach, in which we are all part of the solution instead of enemies to be crushed, “others” to be scorned, or irrelevant people with problems to be ignored.

As individuals and as a group, we reject the politics of character assassination being used against Barack Obama by Jerome Corsi and others.

Corsi unrepentantly and openly wields lies, inaccuracies and baseless, nasty innuendo as political weapons. Furthermore, his advocacy of various radical conspiracy theories have placed his work far outside the realm of any reasonable realm of credibility.

Americans do not agree on everything, and our diversity of opinion and freedom to express it is one of the things that makes this country great. As Jewish Americans supporting Obama, we choose to listen to those with whom we disagree and to engage with them in a civil discourse about the future we want for our country.

We invite you to shine some disinfecting sunlight on the smears by reading and sharing Unfit for Publication, the Obama Campaign's official response to Jerome Corsi's slander. Alternatively, for a non-partisan response, please visit MediaMatters.org.

When fighting broke out recently between Russia and Georgia, Georgia's ancient Jewish community was caught in the path of the conflict.

Jews represent one of the Georgia's oldest communities, with evidence indicating their presence since the Babylonian captivity in the 6^th century BCE.

The emerging crisis in the Georgian Jewish community prompted an extremely rapid response from the Israeli government and from Jewish aid organizations throughout the world, including an unprecedented effort to enable Georgian Jews to make Aliya to Israel in a matter of days.

We are honored to be featuring in this issue a Jewish American Obama supporter with an extraordinary history of activism in the Democratic Party.

Nancy Korman is a retired business owner whose firm, 760 Associates, wrote and designed marketing materials for both corporate and non-profit clients. She taught a Radcliffe seminar on communications as well as a course entitled “Nuts and Bolts of Political Campaigns” at the Kennedy School's Institute of Politics.

Nancy has held major positions in the political campaigns of Ted Kennedy and Barney Frank. As the founder of Boston's first women's lunch group in 1974, she has been an outspoken advocate for women's issues. Over the years, Nancy has served on the board of the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Massachusetts Association of Jewish Federations.

In this Jews for Obama exclusive, Nancy tells the fascinating story of how she became involved in politics and how she became a supporter of Senator Barack Obama. Gather around to hear her story in our virtual house party with Nancy Korman... (click here to keep reading)

You might think that Jewish Republicans are firmly behind John McCain, but that's hardly the whole story. Many Jewish Republicans and independents who voted for Bush in 2004, including some Jews for Obama members, are deeply concerned about the mismanagement of U.S. foreign and domestic policy under the Bush administration and are enthusiastic supporters of Obama's proposals for getting the country back on track. Jews for Obama has collected several important examples for you to share with Republican and independent friends and family members who would appreciate hearing from like-minded Americans why they should consider supporting Barack Obama.

Barack Obama is a family person. He once said, “If my wife thinks that I'm a solid guy and if my daughters know that I love them and want to spend time with them, then that is probably the most important reward that I receive.”

While on vacation recently in Hawaii, Obama visited his ailing grandmother almost every day and spent time with his kids at the beach. He also took time to honor the memory of his mother, who would be incredibly proud of her son for giving hope to Americans suffering through difficult economic times.

When our mundane, workaday activities are driven by passions and desires for self-fulfillment, we can be pulled down by the same forces that motivate us. In this week's words of Torah, Rabbi Tzvi Freeman encourages us to “remember that the purpose of our occupation is not the obvious one of making money, but a deeper, higher purpose. Because we are all, in truth, spiritual beings navigating a material world.”

Politics is an endeavor which can appeal to a participant's noble aspirations as well as to his or her ego. In the U.S., we do not elect a monarch, but rather a president who is our highest level representative as well as our leader. When we as individuals participate in efforts to improve our communities and our country and to elect leaders who are committed to doing the same, we make politics into something noble and elevate the mundane into the spiritual.

Jews for Obama encourages our readers to check out the Jewish Americans page (under the People menu) at BarackObama.com. This site includes an unparalleled collection of video clips and photos chronicling Senator Obama's recent interactions with the Jewish community, such as his May 8 speech commemorating the 60^th anniversary of Israeli independence, his May 22 appearance before the Bnai Torah congregation in Boca Raton, his June 4 speech to AIPAC, and his recent visit to Israel. In the aggregate, this collection underscores the intensity and sincerity of the outreach by Senator Obama to the Jewish community. Click here to visit the Jewish Americans page at the official campaign website.