Smith Above The Law? Who Are We? More.

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 “Given the overwhelming evidence of anti-Trump bias disclosed in the Durham Report, it is urgent that Americans be able to find out who is again investigating Trump from the Garland Justice Department and his appointee Jack Smith,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “Special Prosecutor Jack Smith isn’t above the law, and the American people have the right to know about just who is working on his unprecedented and politicized anti-Trump investigation.”

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Who are we?

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Who is a Jew? Pew Center researcher answers Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer

Director of Religion Research at the Pew Research Center replies to the claim that "Almost Half of American Jews Are Not Actually Jewish" 

By Dov Fischer

Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer’s June 8 op-ed (Almost Half of American Jews Are Not Actually ‘Jewish’) contains some misleading statements that require correction. For example, he claims that Pew Research Center surveys undercount Orthodox Jews in the U.S. because the surveys rely on phone calls made on the Sabbath. This is false. The most recent Pew study of Jewish Americans, conducted in 2020, did not involve any phone calling. It was conducted by mail, not by phone. A prior study, in 2013, was indeed conducted by phone, but no calls were made on Shabbat. That was an intentional element of the survey’s careful design.

In addition, the op-ed suggests that Pew Research Center data on American Jews cannot be trusted because it is based on self-reports by survey respondents. But self-reporting is at the core of virtually all surveys and censuses, including the Israeli census and the surveys conducted by all of Israel’s leading polling organizations. While reputable researchers make efforts to detect falsification and encourage truthfulness, there is no practical alternative to self-reporting.

More to the point, there is absolutely no evidence that large numbers of Americans are pretending to be Jewish in Pew surveys. Using different methods, other independent research organizations, including the American Jewish Population Project at Brandeis University, consistently arrive at similar estimates of the percentage of U.S. adults who are Jewish: roughly 2%.

At root, Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer’s contention isn’t that Pew’s surveys are wrong, it’s that many of the people surveyed are wrong: they may think they are Jewish, but by a halakhic definition, they are not. The op-ed even derives a number, asserting that “almost half” of Americans who consider themselves Jewish do not meet the halakhic definition.

In reality, no one knows what the number would be.

As Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer correctly notes, when an Orthodox rabbi in the United States wants to determine whether someone from outside his community is halakhically Jewish, he undertakes an individual examination, scrutinizing evidence like ketubot, birth certificates and conversion records. To determine what percentage of all U.S. adults who consider themselves Jewish are actually Jewish in terms that would satisfy Rabbi Prof. Dov Fisher, legions of Orthodox rabbis would need to put millions of people through a case-by-case examination. That has never happened, and it’s hard to imagine that it could. Certainly, it’s not a task that Pew Research Center should be expected to undertake.

Moreover, Rabbi Prof. Dov Fischer omitted one side of the equation. While there are Americans who consider themselves Jewish but would not meet the halakhic definition, there are also Americans who don’t consider themselves Jewish but would meet the traditional definition: people who had Jewish mothers and grandmothers in an unbroken line through the generations but who aren’t observant and, in some cases, don’t view themselves as Jewish at all.

Once again, no one knows how many such people there are. But here’s a clue: in the 2013 study, Pew Research Center estimated there were 1.3 million U.S. adults who said they had a Jewish mother but who were not classified in the study as Jewish, either because they did not consider themselves Jewish in any way or because they follow some other religion (in most cases, Christianity).

The fact that Pew Research Center excludes such a large number of people from its Jewish population estimates should make it clear that the Center is not engaged in “fanciful maximizing of Jewish demographics.”

In our reports, you will see that we take no normative position on the question, “Who is a Jew?” We do present a working definition of Jewish identity, which is in keeping with decades of sociological studies in the U.S., but we clearly acknowledge that it’s not the only definition. And we show how the size of the Jewish population might be larger or smaller, depending on which definition you choose.

Of course, we didn’t ask the survey respondents to show us their mother’s ketubah or to verify that the matrilineal line was unbroken. That’s a job for a rabbi.

Alan Cooperman is the Director of Religion Research at the Pew Research Center, Washington, D.C.

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Inflation receding. Consumer back to modest consuming.  Earnings are projected as positive. China's economy not stable, Europe continues negative.

We are in best shape of all major economies. 

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Biden Went Off Script and the Results Were Literally Off the Rails

By Matt Vespa

Joe Biden didn’t fall as he did during the US Air Force Academy graduation ceremony, but he did trip over his tongue again. On Wednesday night, Biden accepted an early endorsement for re-election from the League of Conservation Voters and other environmental groups, trotting over there to acknowledge and address the group at their fundraising dinner (via Politico): 

Four of the nation’s biggest environmental advocacy groups officially endorsed President Joe Biden’s reelection campaign Wednesday night, an early declaration of support that also served as a show of appreciation for having passed the most significant climate legislation in history last year. 

Biden trekked across town from the White House to receive the endorsement in person, speaking at the League of Conservation Voters’ annual fundraising dinner in a concert venue along Washington’s southeastern waterfront. 

“Many of you have been with me throughout my career and I can’t tell you how much it means to have your support again,” Biden said, taking the stage after the endorsement was announced. “Together we’ve made a lot of progress, but we’ve got to finish the job.”  

The backing of the four major green groups — LCV, NextGen PAC, NRDC Action Fund and the Sierra Club — was no surprise, especially after last year’s passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which included $370 billion in subsidies for clean energy projects.

Wait, isn’t this past Biden’s bedtime? Remember, this is Joe Biden 2024, a night owl full of mirth, except he’s not. He’s old, senile, and lost more than a step regarding cognitive function. 

'Am I White?' Republican Leaves Woke Diversity Officer Speechless When Asked Simple Question

Half-thoughts, mumbling, and misfires riddled the address. Biden seems to be a little late to the party regarding population news from Africa, declaring that the continent will soon be home to 1 billion people. That threshold was crossed in 2009. Biden also reiterated the super-hyperbolic claim that global warming is an existential crisis. Another brain miscue was when the president said we would build railroads over oceans, specifically constructing a railroad system from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean. 

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Will the White House Pass or Fail CUNY’s Test?

By Rabbi Moshe Hauer and Nathan J. Diament | 

An anti-Israel screed is an early measure for the President’s plan to fight antisemitism.

Imagine being a Jewish student at the City University of New York (CUNY) School of Law when Fatima Mohammed gave her speech at its commencement ceremony on May 12.

On a day that should be celebratory for all those in attendance, Jewish students had to sit through hearing their homeland accused of fomenting “lynch mobs” and being compared to an array of heinous racist and imperial groups.

The worst part? Far from denouncing this explicit use of hate speech, their fellow students cheered the attacks. Coupled with CUNY’s history of antisemitism, this incident serves as a loud alarm bell that America’s universities have an antisemitism problem to address.

The good news is Mohammed’s speech came on the heels of the release of the White House National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, which offers concrete steps to address, among other things, the rising hate on our campuses.

The Orthodox Union provided The White House with a lot of input for the Strategy. We joined roundtable discussions, submitted memorandums and more. This was a priority for us because Orthodox Jews, whose Jewish identity is more visible, are also targeted for hate crimes at a much higher rate. But the incident at CUNY Law shows all Jews are vulnerable to hateful harassment irrespective of their level of religious observance. Here is the first early test of how the White House Strategy will–or will not–be implemented.

The White House Strategy recognizes the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which clearly outlines that criticism of Israel can spill into hate speech. Adopted by the governments of 31 nations and many states around the U.S., IHRA leaves no gray areas in recognizing Mohammed’s speech as anti -semitic and addressing it head-on.

The White House Strategy directs senior officials of the U.S. Department of Education to conduct site visits to campuses “that have experienced upticks in anti-semitism but have not yet adequately addressed such concerns.” A visit to CUNY Law should be atop the travel itinerary. We also urge the Department’s Office of Civil Rights to open an investigation into this incident to ensure, as the National Strategy says, “everyone has a right to learn in an environment free from anti-semitic harassment.

But there are other actions to be taken in response to the CUNY Law screed. Congressman Mike Lawler has introduced legislation to block colleges and universities from receiving federal funds if they fail to prevent the fomenting of antisemitism on their campuses. Congressional leaders should schedule consideration of this bill as soon as possible.

America’s colleges can and should be a welcoming place for all students, Jewish students among them. A 2022 survey found that over half of Jewish students worry about paying a “social cost” at their school if they support the existence of Israel as a Jewish state. The White House Strategy to Counter Antisemitism cited this survey as evidence of the need for action. CUNY Law’s commencement has provided an immediate illustration of the problem. American Jews are watching for the White House’s response. The plan is a good one, but only as good as its implementation.

Rabbi Moshe Hauer is the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union.

Nathan Diament is the executive director for public policy of the Orthodox Union.

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