Obama Letter Seeks Jewish Support

The presidential campaign of U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) released an open letter to the Jewish community, signed by nearly 70 Jews across the state -- including religious leaders, elected officials and party activists -- asking for support for the lawmaker in his April 22 Keystone state showdown with U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)

"We have each chosen to pray with our feet and stand with Barack Obama because he is sensitive to the issues of the Jewish community and a stalwart supporter of Israel," read the letter, which was released on March 31 and signed by, among many others, State Rep. Josh Shapiro (D-District 153) and State Rep. Daylin Leach (D-District 149.)

The letter praised Obama's response to the controversy surrounding his former pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, who has made comments blasting Israel and who also reprinted a Hamas-written opinion piece in a church newsletter.

"While we are profoundly disturbed by the unpatriotic, bigoted and anti-Semitic comments of the retired pastor of Sen. Obama's church, we are moved that Barack stood up at the National Constitution in Philadelphia ... and expressed his own views on issues near and dear to the heart and soul of the Jewish community," the letter continued.

The letter also claimed that "Obama has voted 100 percent consistently with the position of AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) on foreign aid and all other and resolutions affecting Israel."

This is difficult to gage since, unlike other lobbying groups, AIPAC does not rate candidates; the organization has maintained that all three remaining presidential candidates possess strong records on Israel.

Nearly 30 of the signers hailed from the Philadelphia region, including six rabbis. Only one heads a pulpit -- Rabbi Joshua Waxman of Or Hadash: A Reconstructionist Congregation in Fort Washington, who said he felt little hesitation at lending his name to the letter, which does not mention the congregation.

Waxman said that there has been a steady effort within some segments of the Jewish community to portray Obama as unsympathetic toward Israel. The rabbi added that he needed to take an overt political stand in order to repudiate such efforts. He noted that he hadn't discussed the issue from the bimah, but had addressed it in his personnel blog.

Waxman said that "it was important for there to be a public voice from the Jewish community saying no to these attacks."

The campaign has also privately reached out to rabbinic leaders. Last week, U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) held a meeting with Rabbi Leonard Gordon of the Germantown Jewish Centre and Rabbi Steven Wernick of Adath Israel to discuss Obama's positions and candidacy. According to Gordon, the campaign had not asked for an endorsement -- in fact, he said, it wasn't appropriate for a congregational rabbi to offer one.

On April 9, Obama supporter Daniel C. Kurtzer -- former U.S. ambassador to Israel and Egypt -- was slated to speak at a Huntington Valley event and lay out Obama's Middle East policy.