Draw the line: Should the U.S. always support Israel's policies?

This week we move from the realm of the home and family to an issue of national politics, Should the U.S. always support Israel's policies? This question addresses an issue that can be examined on many levels: state policy, the imperative to support other democracies, what it means for jews, and a host of other perspectives. Given the broadness of this question, I am sure your comments will be super interesting, so let's get a dialogue going! This has certainly been a contentious issue among our visitors.

Over 365 visitors who have responded to this issue. Here is what the results look like so far:





Here are some thoughts from our visitors:

YES
"Yes, we need to support our homeland. Not many other people can or will." -Anon.

"Israel is a symbol of freedom and wisdom. U.S. should support Israel if it supports freedom and equality in right [sic} for everyone." -Anton, St. Petersburg

NO
"What if they don't make sense? Of course nt. Each policy must be evaluated on its merits and then supported (or not) based on what is best for the world." -Anon.

"Israel is not the 51st state." - Alise, Philadelphia, PA

UM
"Sometimes Israel gets into a fight but most of the time its good and there's peace." -Eric, Parsippany, NJ

"I think that it matters if the U.S. is earning enough money. We can't always help epeople because we need to focus on our country too." -Sabrina, Monmouth Jct., NJ

What are your thoughts on the issue? Share your thoughts by commenting. Don't be shy! The whole point of this part of our exhibit is to begin a dialogue.

Looking for more information? Try these articles, which have been selected for their diversity of opinions:
New Coalition To Fight Any Jerusalem Division
New Jewish Lobby Seeks to REdefine Pro-Israel
Critics of Israel lobby gather
on Mearsheimer's home turf

Are you an intermarriage optimist or an intermarriage pessimist?

This interesting Slate article comes by way of the self-labeled "best Francophilic Zionism in the blogosphere," What would Phoebe Do. In light of this week's featured Draw The Line question, as well as the end of Passover, I thought this was a particularly relevant article.

Shuel Rosner discusses the topic that "the American Jewish community has been obsessed by," intermarriage with non-Jews. He distinguishes between "'intermarriage optimists' who think that the trend could help the Jewish community grow in numbers, and the 'intermarriage pessimists' who think that it will just lead to lowering the entry bar to Judaism, watering down the faith."

As this article highlights, this question is incredibly relevant to American Jews, especially around religious holidays when family's are confronted with family dinners and spiritual practices, the physical manifestation of their Judaism. This is particularly true at Passover, as Rosner notes, because, "Passover, more than any other Jewish holy day, is the one in which Jews celebrate not their religion but this strange concept of becoming a people."

Phoebe takes the intermarriage optimist route in her reaction piece, asking, "Isn't it far more plausible that intermarriage will de facto bring new members into the Jewish people than that it will bring about round-the-block lines for the mikvah (or in the gentile man's case, a more extreme initiation)?"

But the other camp, the so-called "intermarriage pessimists," have a plausible fear too -- that intermarriage results in fewer religiously active members of the Jewish community and a weaker understanding of Judaism as a whole.

This debate is highly provocative and I can't wait to hear your thoughts. I, myself, am an intermarriage optimist, but that is because I'm the product of an intermarriage between my Jewish mother and Chinese Poppi. I have pleasant memories of eating ginger carrot soup at Hannukah and looking at our Christmas tree lights with those cardboard glasses that turn all lights into Stars of Davids. That being said, I can totally see where the intermarriage pessimists are coming from -- out of the criteria listed in the Rosner article as a measure of faith, I fall squarely into the category of Hannukah-Passover Jews.