c. 2004 Religion News Service

(Judy Gruen is a humorist and author of “Till We Eat Again: Confessions of a Diet Dropout.” Read more of her columns on http://www.judygruen.com.)

(UNDATED) When my friend and neighbor Gary Rosen placed a Bush-Cheney lawn sign in front of his house, a number of neighbors quickly followed suit. The sprouting of Republican-touting signs wouldn’t be surprising during an election season, except that our Los Angeles neighborhood is heavily populated by Jews _ traditionally a nearly unmovable Democratic constituency.

So far, four of the signs have been stolen. Gary’s not bothered.

“I bought 100,” he said. “I give them to anyone who wants one and replace them when they’re stolen.”

For many Jews, including me, openly proclaiming our Republican tendencies feels like “coming out of the closet.” Until I was in my mid-20s, I had never even heard of a Jewish Republican, let alone met one. “Jewish Republican” sounded like an oxymoron. I confess that when I met my husband-to-be in 1984 and learned he was planning to vote for President Reagan’s re-election, I nearly wrote off the fledgling relationship. Dating a Republican felt like a violation almost as severe as dating out of the faith.

It took “four more years” for me to finally believe that voting Republican was in the best interests of American society and more consistent with my Jewish values of justice and, yes, compassion. Like so many other Jews, I had been deeply emotionally invested in my Democratic affiliation.

Clearly, I’m not alone. Larry Greenfield, director of the Republican Jewish Coalition’s Southern California chapter, notes that in the past four years membership in the grass-roots organization has grown from a scant 2,000 to more than 12,000. There are now 34 chapters nationwide.

It’s not easy to sell Jews on the Republican idea, and generally I don’t even try, not wanting to strain relationships with family or friends. This makes me more grateful for the work of the RJC and people like Greenfield. “The Jewish ideal of `healing the world’ is best advanced by today’s Republicans,” he says. “It’s the Republicans who fight most aggressively for the democratization of the Arab world and against terror states. This fight is also in the best interests for long-term peace in both the U.S. and Israel.”

Greenfield adds that today’s Republican party is also “viscerally friendly” to Israel and American Jewry, but the Democratic party includes a growing element that is hostile to Israel.

While Greenfield has voted for Democrats in the past, he has concluded that Republican values are also inherently Jewish ones. These include shared beliefs in a pro-growth economy, lower taxes and the need for smaller government. But my friend Gary, also an RJC member, believes Jews are justified in voting Republican even if they are “one-issue” voters, supporting Bush solely because of his support for Israel.

“Anti-Semitism is back in a big way, especially in Europe,” Gary says, noting that the family of a French Jewish friend left France and moved to Israel after their apartment building was painted full of swastikas and threats.

“We don’t know what the future holds for Jews,” Gary adds. “We need a strong and safe Israel, but a strong Israel is also good for America.”

When Jews continue to vote Democratic today, many also don’t realize how far the party has strayed from the Democratic ideals of Franklin Roosevelt and even John F. Kennedy, who lowered taxes and promoted national defense.

“We think now it’s time for Jews to stop voting for FDR,” Greenfield says. “He’s not on the ballot this year.”

Many middle-aged and elderly Jews are still too invested in Democratic emotion to switch, but young Jews, who are encountering so much anti-Semitism and frightening anti-Israel rhetoric from the left on college campuses, are registering as Republicans in large numbers. As further evidence of this shift,Greenfield notes that at the Republican National Convention in New York last summer, the convention floor was dotted with yarmulkes, and the Republican platform was specifically supportive of Israel.

In contrast, the Democratic convention celebrated Israel bashers Jimmy Carter, Michael Moore and Al Sharpton. These observations were not lost on many of us watching the proceedings.

It’s true that President Bush carried only 19 percent of the Jewish vote in 2000, but Greenfield hopes that figure will grow significantly this time, though he won’t make predictions.

“We’re still planting seeds now,” he says. “Within 5-10 years I think the Jewish vote will be closer to 50-50.”

Greenfield gave up a lucrative law career to advocate on behalf of the Jewish Republican cause, but he is energized by the inroads he is making. At a recent debate in front of 2,000 people he calls a “Jewish liberal, Hollywood crowd,” he was booed when he was first introduced. But as the debate went on, Greenfield won many points, eventually turning a hostile audience into a curious, even appreciative one.

“It was very satisfying to have so many people come up and ask me lots of questions after the debate. I tried to show them that we’re in this together.”

MO/JL END RNS