At the Shacharit (morning) service on the Sunday before Rosh HaShanah at Anshe Sfard Kehillat Torah (modern Orthodox) in Glendale, worshippers prepared for the holiday by sounding the shofar and beginning to reflect on the past year.
Some of the worshippers, all men, also found themselves reflecting on the issues important to them in coming presidential election under the urging of a reporter from The Chronicle.
One was Daniel Weber, a biologist at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He said right out, “I will be voting for [Democratic nominee Barack] Obama.”
“Environmental issues are very important to me,” he said. He also mentioned “issues involving the economy” and “what we need in terms of foreign policy. We have to work within the world, not be the cowboy in the saddle. We need to build relationships with other countries, which we haven’t in the past eight years.”
However, some of the others who overheard or heard about the conversation said with clear irony, “Weber is really representative of the views of this congregation.”
Conservative views
Yet, though conservative views seemed to prevail, none of the other three worshippers The Chronicle spoke with wanted to say for whom they were voting.
Eric Pullin is a professor of history (U.S. and India) at Carthage College. “My biggest concern is Israel. I want to vote for a president who will maintain America’s strong commitment to Israel [and is] committed to Israel’s security.”
But he did not want to say for whom he would vote. “I have serious doubts Obama will maintain” U.S. commitment to Israel, he said. “I’m afraid he might drift into the same policies as [former President William] Clinton.”
However, “I have serious doubts about [Republican nominee John] McCain’s consistency and commitment to conservative principles,” Pullin said.
Alan Rosenthal is a medical science representative for Bristol-Meyers Squibb pharmaceutical company. To him, the two most significant issues in the election are “the economy and foreign policy vis a vis Israel.”
“I’m concerned about health care, the cost of health care, what we get for our money,” he said. He also doesn’t want taxes to “go any higher than they are” even to pay for a system of national health insurance. “I’m not sure that would get us better health care.”
In foreign policy, Rosenthal said that Israel “needs to be able to make the decisions that are best for Israel, not in the interests of other countries,” including the United States.
However, he did not want to state for whom he would vote. “I’m fairly conservative in my viewpoint. You can take it from that.”
Investment broker Robert Michels also did not want to say for whom he would vote. He joined Pullin and Rosenthal in being concerned about “which candidate would most support Israel … against all its enemies” and which would be “least likely to increase taxes.”
But Michels also said the abortion controversy was an important issue to him. “I am pro-life,” he said. While he acknowledged that under Jewish religious law abortion “in certain instances” is allowed and even mandatory, “it generally is not something that should take place” and “not in the late stage.”
Eat cake crumbs?
At other times before Rosh HaShanah, The Chronicle spoke with local Jews found in other locales. At the Eleta Salon in Whitefish Bay, two clients took opposing views of the elections.
Sue Colburn Strauss, an attorney, lives in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. “The first thing that I think every thinking American is concerned about is the economy, which seems to be imploding,” she said.
“Everything is built on our economy. That’s what gives the United States its power” and gives it influence in the world, she said. “We are losing our capital with overseas nations and people have no idea what the ramifications are.”
And that is why she is voting for Obama, “because this debacle is the result of the Republican views regarding regulation and oversight,” she said. “And if we have another four years of Republican administration, there won’t be a country left.”
Ida Vusiker of Bayside is a recently retired small business owner. Her top concerns are “foreign relations and the security of Israel, as well as the economy.”
She plans to vote for McCain. “I think he will be more reliable concerning Israel’s security. Also, I like [GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah] Palin, who I think represents modern women in the way she balances family and work.”
At the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center, two local Jews brought somewhat lighter touches to their analysis of the serious election issues.
Attorney and real estate broker Alan Eisenberg mentioned four issues that concern him: “The economy, the economy, the economy and Iraq, and the economy.”
Eisenberg said he regarded himself as an independent voter, and while he doesn’t like McCain, “there were other Republicans that I liked” before McCain got the nomination.
However, he will be voting for Obama because his wife, Cindy, “is a ferocious Obama supporter” who is active in the local campaign.
Meanwhile, professional comedian Richard Chudnow, founder and co-owner of ComedySportz, said he was voting for Obama partly out of dread that Palin could become president in place of the elderly McCain.
“Just picture her giving the State of the Union [address to Congress]. You thought that the Hindenberg [the dirigible that exploded in 1937] was a tragedy,” he said. “She makes George Bush look like [renowned ancient Greek orator] Demosthenes.”
Chudnow also doesn’t like the Republicans’ economic policies. “Remember when [French Queen] Marie Antoinette [according to legend] said, ‘Let them eat cake’? The Republicans said, ‘Let them eat cake crumbs’ and they got away with it.”
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