Mishpacha: Small Facts, Big Ideas

June 12, 2019

By Gershon Burstyn

For better or worse, we live in a world of copious information. The Internet has enabled the publication of thousands of news sites, and has allowed for expanded coverage from some of the print and broadcast heavyweights. For a journalist, it’s both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, there is so much to read. On the other hand, there is so much to read that it’s hard to decide what to write about.

Which is why I tend to save links to stories, like a ferret storing his food, hoping that one day inspiration — or a news hook — will strike and I can finally put fingertips to keyboard.

So, in honor of all those small items that don’t deserve full treatment but do nonetheless provide a nugget of insight, herewith are a sampling of several noteworthy headlines over the last six months that tell us something about general trends in politics and society.

  Politics

  “Women Behind Almost Half of Individual Trump Contributions in First Three Months of Year”

One would think women would be the least likely to support Trump, given his checkered history. But it’s not so. More than 45 percent of the individual itemized contributions to the Trump campaign in the first three months of 2019 came from women, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan research group. Though the $1.5 million collected in the first quarter made up a small portion of the $30.3 million total contributions, it does suggest that Trump may have a well of hidden support.

   “Four in Ten Americans Embrace Some Form of Socialism”

A Gallup poll released in May found that 43 percent of Americans believe “some form of socialism” would be a “good thing” for the United States. Another 47 percent said they would vote for a socialist candidate for president. Previous Gallup polling shows that 57 percent of Democrats view socialism positively.

Bernie Sanders, the socialist senator from Vermont running for president, must be heartened by the news. He currently trails the frontrunner, former Vice President Joe Biden, 16.5 percent to 35 percent.

  “The Democrats’ 100-Year Flood”

Polling experts believe voter turnout in 2020 may be the highest in a century. They base that forecast on record turnout for the 2018 midterm elections, which was 50 percent, about 10 points higher than the historical norm. Michael McDonald, an elections expert at the University of Florida, expects turnout in 2020 to be 67 percent, 7 points higher than 2016. McDonald believes that young people and people of color will turn out in higher numbers to vote President Trump out of office. Another election expert, Larry Sabato, said voters will go to the polls to make sure that the election night surprise of 2016 does not repeat. “Nobody’s going to believe the polls after 2016, and everyone will assume a tight race.”

  “Domestic Issues Dominate the Priorities of the Jewish Electorate”

Jewish Americans care most about health care and least about Israel. That is the striking result of a study conducted for the Jewish Electorate Institute. More than 1,000 Jewish voters said that maintaining Medicare and Social Security were their top electoral priorities, followed by enacting gun safety laws, combating the influence of white supremacists, combating terrorism, and improving the economy. What a candidate thinks about Israel was dead last on a list of 16 policy priorities, a fact that explains why many Jews still vote for Democratic candidates whose support for Israel is lukewarm. The poll also found that, despite decades of effort, support for the Republican Party in the Jewish community remains at 25 percent, the same as 2018.

Society

  “Workism Is Making Americans Miserable”

In the past, wealth bought leisure time, notes Atlantic writer Derek Thompson in his February 2019 article. But today, success at work buys more work.

That’s because work has become a kind of religion among young people, one of the many “-isms” that have replaced traditional religious practice. “Some people worship beauty, some worship political identities, and others worship children,” Thompson writes. “But everybody worships something. And workism is among the most potent of the new religions competing for congregants.”

In 1980, the highest-earning men worked less than middle-class and low-income men; now they have the longest average workweek. “It is fair to say that elite American mean have transformed themselves into the world’s premier workaholics,” Thompson writes. “Today’s rich American men can afford vastly more downtime. But they have used their wealth to buy the strangest of prizes: more work!”

  “US Births Fall to Lowest Level Since 1980s”

The birth rate in the United States fell below replacement level (2.1 percent) in 1971, notes an article in the Wall Street Journal, but last year it hit a record low, 1.7 percent. Falling birth rates among young and Hispanic women account for most of the decline. Interestingly, there was an increase in the birth rate among women aged between 35 and 44.

In the long-term, a lower birth rate means that an aging population will have a much smaller workforce to support them in their retirement. However, researchers hope that as the millennial generation (now 23 to 38 years old) moves through their 30s, the birth rate will once again rise.

  “Social Media Is Making Us Crazier”

“Society seems to be going steadily crazier,” writes author Glenn Reynolds in his new book, The Social Media Upheaval. “And maybe it doesn’t seem to be. Maybe it actually is growing crazier.”

The cause of this insanity? Social media. Reynolds, creator of the popular Instapundit blog, details the many ways in which social media is changing the way we act and interact, mostly for the worse.

Look around and you will see men, women, and children locked in to their cell phones, oblivious of those around them. Then there are those who spend their days on Twitter, yelling at people they don’t know half a planet away. Average intelligence is statistically declining in the social media age, Reynolds writes, as distraction becomes the norm and time to read a book dwindles. Worst of all, these social media platforms have the power to promote a political identity and exclude those who don’t conform. Welcome to the world of anger. And Orwell.

  “Religious Couples Are the Most Blissful of All”

Call it the anti-Hollywood study. Popular culture sells the myth that religious life is stifling while a nonreligious life is liberating. In fact, according to an Institute for Family Studies report conducted in 11 countries, religious couples are happier and more satisfied with their marriages than secular and less religious couples. In the United States, the study found that 38 percent of wives and 33 percent of husbands of religious couples were satisfied with their partners while 23 percent of wives and 20 percent of husbands of secular couples were satisfied with their partners. Religious couples also tend to have more children and are more likely to marry.

So, if you want a happy marriage, go to shul.

Antisemitism is a warning sign. Are we listening?

By Eileen Filler-Corn • July 3, 2025
In the nearly two years since Hamas’s brutal Oct. 7 attack on Israel, American Jews have watched a disturbing rise in antisemitism take place across America — and crucially, among some of our longtime allies. For decades, Jewish Americans stood at the forefront of progressive causes, marching for civil rights, fighting for reproductive freedom and advocating for immigrants and the marginalized. My Jewish faith is what first drove me to public service. The Jewish concept of tikkun olam — our responsibility to repair the world — is not just a religious tenet but a moral call to action. It’s why we’ve always shown up to defend others. Yet now, as antisemitism surges to record levels, many progressive organizations and leaders who once stood with us have gone quiet; or worse, turned their backs entirely. It’s no longer just about Israeli policy. The line between anti-Zionism and antisemitism has been crossed so many times it’s barely a line at all. “Zionist” has become a stand-in for “Jew,” and the message is clear: Unless you disavow the world’s only Jewish state, your place in many progressive spaces is no longer welcome. The picture is sobering. There have been calls to ban “Zionists” from Pride events. Many women’s groups have shrugged at Hamas’ rape of Israeli women. And the Democratic nominee for mayor of America’s most populous city has a pattern of antisemitic rhetoric and has refused to condemn the hurtful call to “globalize the intifada,” a rallying cry that has been used to incite violence against Jews. This didn’t happen overnight, but the silence from many who claim to fight for justice has been deafening and deeply painful. I know what it feels like to be targeted for who you are. In January 2020, shortly after I became the first woman and the first Jewish Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, the FBI uncovered a plot to assassinate me. Two members of a neo-Nazi domestic terrorist group had targeted me. It was the most serious of many threats I received during my time as Speaker. Thankfully, law enforcement intervened in time. But the threat was real, and it reminded me that hatred knows no single party or ideology. We’ve long seen this kind of extremist hate on the right, but today that same danger is rising on both extremes of the ideological spectrum. Antisemitism spreads under different names but with the same devastating consequences. Now, with the recent war between Israel and Iran, we’re likely to see a fresh wave of anti-Zionism and antisemitism. It is already giving rise to a new round of dangerous conspiracy theories laced with antisemitic tropes: accusing American Jews of dual loyalty; suggesting we control foreign policy; and portraying Jewish political engagement as part of a shadowy cabal influencing Washington. This is a moment of moral testing. Will our leaders speak clearly and forcefully against antisemitism, even when it’s politically inconvenient? Will those who champion diversity and inclusion apply those values to Jews as well? And will we be honest about how bad actors have exploited division, stoked extremism and enabled those who traffic in hate? Just as many Americans oppose President Donald Trump’s leadership while still loving this country and believing in its promise, the same is true for Israel. You can criticize or reject Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government and still support Israel’s right to exist, to defend itself and to thrive as a Jewish and democratic state. That distinction matters. Criticizing a government is not the same as condemning a people; but when it comes to Israel, that line is too often deliberately blurred. We must be able to hold leaders accountable without fueling hatred or questioning a nation’s fundamental legitimacy. Antisemitism is not merely a problem faced by Jews — it is a bellwether for the health of our democracy. When a society tolerates hatred against one group, it gives license to hate others. When threats against public servants go unchallenged, violence becomes normalized. I was reminded of that tragic reality when my friend and former counterpart, former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman, was executed in her home along with her husband, Mark. Authorities say her killer was a politically motivated extremist who had compiled a list of Democratic lawmakers. Melissa was a principled leader and a friend. Her death was a heartbreaking loss and a flashing red warning sign for the tolerance of hate in our democracy. We cannot afford to treat this moment as normal. It is time for our allies to rejoin us. To speak up when we are threatened. To see antisemitism for what it is: a growing, dangerous force that must be confronted head-on. Because if we wait until it affects everyone, it will already be too late. Eileen Filler Corn is a JEI Board Member and Former Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, and the only ever Jewish speaker in VA
JEI logo - blue and red star

Letter to House Judiciary Committee on Anti-Semitism

July 1, 2025
July 1, 2025 U.S. House Committee On The Judiciary 2142 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Now in our ninth year, the nationally and internationally recognized Jewish Electorate Institute (JEI), an independent, non-partisan, non-profit organization, continues to serve as the barometer for the Jewish electorate. We are therefore honored to submit the following Comments for the Record to the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee in support of its June 24, 2025, hearing on antisemitism - Rising Threat: America’s Battle Against Antisemitic Terror. This hearing, punctuated by the moving testimony of Matt Nosanchuk, reminded us that Jewish safety in America is not a political football - it is a national imperative. Nosanchuk, a former senior official in both the Obama and Biden Administrations and a lifelong advocate against antisemitism, laid bare the stark realities we face. The murder of Sarah Milgrim and Yaron Lischinsky, who were attending a Jewish community event just blocks from his home, brought the crisis home - literally and painfully. It also underscored a chilling truth: this could have been any one of us. Antisemitism today does not discriminate based on geography, profession, or even political identity. Nosanchuk rightly challenged both ends of the political spectrum. From the right, we've seen rising indulgence of white nationalist rhetoric, normalization of Nazi imagery, and an embrace of conspiracy theorists. When antisemitism is tolerated—or worse, weaponized—by public officials and influential institutions, it emboldens violence and undermines the rule of law. The example of the pardoning of the person wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” shirt at the riot on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, was not just shocking to the Jewish community – it was symptomatic of a deeper, corrosive tolerance for hate. From the left, antisemitism also too often masquerades as political critique. When Jews are asked to renounce their ties to Israel to participate in coalitions, or when pro-Palestinian activism turns violent against Jews, with intimidating targeted rhetoric and violence, that’s not solidarity – it’s exclusion and scapegoating. Our Jewish identity should never be a precondition for political participation. What we need is not partisan grandstanding, but comprehensive action. That includes implementing the Biden Administration’s well-thought-out National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism, restoring funding for civil rights enforcement at the Justice Department, and condemning hate, regardless of its ideological source. Nosanchuk’s call for education, prevention, and cross-community solidarity is exactly right. In closing, it’s our view at JEI that using antisemitism as cover for draconian immigration or university policies erodes the democratic institutions that have allowed Jewish life to flourish. Fighting hate must not become an excuse to violate civil liberties - ours or anyone else’s. Our safety as Jews has always been linked to the safety of others. In this perilous moment, we must demand more than soundbites. We must demand seriousness, solidarity, and above all, solutions. We are grateful to the Committee for having held this vital hearing at a perilous moment for American Jews. Sincerely, Barbara Goldberg Goldman Chairperson The Jewish Electorate Institute

JEI Statement on escalation and Support on Israel Security

June 18, 2025
Washington, DC — As hostilities between Israel and Iran intensify, the Jewish Electorate Institute (JEI), a nonpartisan political nonprofit, is calling on Congress to take all necessary measures to support Israel’s security, halt Iran’s nuclear ambitions, and help bring the hostages home.