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Stupid Column of the Week

The Jewish Week regains sole possession of the SCOTW title, thanks to Kerry M. Olitzky's column.

Olitzky calls for increased support for intermarried families, writing:

Here comes Howard Dean, married to a Jewish woman, raising two Jewish children. And the American Jewish community, always quick to criticize interfaith marriages, has expressed noticeable interest and pride.

Despite the Jewish community’s talk about interfaith marriages being responsible for the wholesale extinction of American Jewry, Dean and his Jewish family have become folk heroes. He is the non-Jewish presidential candidate who can light Chanukah candles, follow a synagogue service and recite the Shecheyanu (Jewish blessing of thanks), and he has learned it all from his wife and kids.

Until Olitzky's article, I was aware of no Jewish "noticeable interest and pride" in Howard Dean. As the Miami Herald recently reported, rather than becoming a "folk hero," the Jewish community is quite wary of Dean, in light of his troubling statements about Israel. For example, in 1998 Dean said, "Hamas will probably take over. There will probably be good and bad out of that," and a year later blamed Prime Minister Netanyahu for the lack of progress in the Oslo process, stating that Arafat and the PA are "people he could negotiate with."

If Olitzky wanted to argue in favor in intermarriage, using Howard Dean as his poster boy is a poor tactic.
posted on 1/22/2004