Rabbi David Wolpe is scheduled to deliver the invocation at the Democratic National Convention tonight in Charlotte. But the 54-year-old leader of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles says his appearance is not an endorsement and that his role as a Jewish leader does not imbue him with unique political qualifications.
“I’m honored to be chosen to offer a prayer, but not an endorsement one way or the other, because I don’t think that’s a rabbi’s job,” he explained. “My approach is that being a rabbi doesn’t give me special political insight. So, I don’t like to preach to people about exactly the political positions they should take, as though Judaism vests me with this approach as opposed to that approach.”
Cardinal Timothy Dolan has much the same to say about his appearance last week at the Republican convention and his scheduled invocation at the DNC on Thursday . According to Dolan’s statement his appearance is not an endorsement of either political party.
As Robert P. George argues, however, Dolan’s presence at the Charlotte convention has more to do with Democrats being forced to concede a principle and open their party to dissenting voices.
“[T]he Democrats are, whether they like it or not, sending an implicit signal…. The cardinal’s presence confounds efforts by the abortion-rights and gay-marriage movements to stigmatize and marginalize those who refuse to fall into line,” declares George.
Which brings us back to Wolpe and the Democrats, or more specifically pro-Israel Democrats.
If George is correct and Dolan’s appearance in Charlotte is an admission by the party that those who believe in traditional marriage and protecting the unborn have to be respected, Wolpe’s appearance implies no such Democratic acceptance of what the rabbi stands for.
In fact, however reluctant he may be to admit it, Wolpe’s apearance is likely to look like an endorsement of the party’s shift in policy.
You see, Wolpe is an ardent Zionist. If you need an example, watch Wolpe’s apearance at the most recent Aipac policy conference.
This year’s DNC platform on the other hand is an especially troubling document since much of the more traditional pro-Israel positions have been removed. For example, the Obama administration refuses to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and the DNC platform now reflects that position. Indeed, the change over Jerusalem has caused a serious dust up for the Obama campaign.
This year’s DNC platform is also different as regards the so-called “right of return” of Palestinians to pre-1948 Israel, which if implemented would overwhelm the Jewish state demographically and destroy it as a Jewish nation. The 2008 DNC platform said this:
“The creation of a Palestinian state through final status negotiations, together with an international compensation mechanism, should resolve the issue of Palestinian refugees by allowing them to settle there, rather than in Israel.”
That language has now been removed.
The DNC says the language follows the Obama campaign’s positions, which shows how much pro-Israel Democrats have failed.
Pro-Israel Democrats, who supposedly wield such great influence with President Obama couldn’t even win to keep pre-existing language in the DNC platform, this year. Doesn’t that indicate how utterly impotent this wing of the Democratic Party really is?
If Rabbi Wolpe wants to fulfill an important role delivering his invocation tonight, he might just want to make clear to his pro-Israel bretheren in the Democratic Party, that they’ve failed and failed spectacularly.
Wolpe cannot endorse the Democratic Party or President Obama because the current platform doesn’t reflect his pro-Israel views, and every American should be made to realize it.