Rabbis (not) For Obama

President Barack Obama and Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb of the Jewish Renewal Movement. Gottlieb, who once dialogued with Ahmadinejad and is an advisory board member of the pro-BDS group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), is on the new "Rabbis for Obama" list endorsing the president. (Credit: White House and Jewish Virtual Library)

President Barack Obama’s re-election campaign on Aug. 21 announced a new initiative, “Rabbis for Obama,” consisting of more than 600 rabbis—among them Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) activists and a rabbi who dialogued with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—who state their support for the incumbent. 

Noah Pollak, executive director of the Emergency Committee for Israel (ECI), toldThe Jewish Pressthat “the Rabbis for Obama group, which includes Jews who are amongst the most hostile to Israel anywhere in America, underscores the lack of seriousness with which they take their effort to convince pro-Israel voters that this president is pro-Israel.” 

According to the latest Gallup poll, Obama leads Republican candidate Mitt Romney 68 percent to 25 percent among Jewish voters. Republicans have been targeting Obama’s credentials on Israel, citing what they claim to be his tense relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as his weakness in dealing with the Arab Spring uprisings and the Iranian nuclear threat.

Read more:The Jewish Chronicle - Obama s rabbinical supporters include BDS activists and Ahmadinejad dialogue partner

My Rabbi, an admittedly liberal man, has sent a congregation-wide email severing his ties with the group "Rabbis For Obama". That happened this past week. I must say that I am glad.

One more thing. My Rabbi says Obama claimed that the exact number of rabbis that support him are 613, which happens to be a famous number among Jews, as that is the number of Commandments (Mitzvot) in the Torah (5 books of Moses, or the Old Testament). Obama sickens me at times. 613? How dare he!