Thanks for asking, Donald. Here are 52 reasons why three quarters of American Jews won't vote for you.
It’s not out of habit that Jews vote this way, nor is it knee-jerk wokeness. It’s because of the Jewish values embedded deep within our tradition. And here they are.
See also these related posts:
Once again last week, Donald Trump insulted American Jews, questioning our judgment by saying, “I actually do not know how a person who is Jewish can vote for her, (‘her’ meaning Kamala Harris).”
This was actually a milder form of this running insult, which he’s been using for years. He’s called us “disloyal to Israel,” said we should have our “head examined” and said that any Jewish person who votes for Democrats “hates their religion” and “everything about Israel.” Like so many of his lies and insults, he has repeated that mantra over and over, while trying to peel off a few of approximately 70 percent of American Jews who voted for Biden in 2020 (even more voted for Hillary in 2016).
What made last week’s invocation especially abhorrent is that he recited it during a public meeting with the Prime Minister of Israel, who is reported (by Trump) to have replied that American Jews vote Democratic out of force of habit. In other words, Netanyahu is compounding the insult by denying us agency or capacity for reflective thought. The only question that leaves me with is who / what do these would-be autocrats distrust more, American Jews or voting itself?
It’s clear that we are bound to hear this refrain again and again from now to November, so I’m going to do a favor for the former president and current felon with 34 convictions and 91 original indictment charges. I’ll present 52 reasons why American Jews will not and should not flock Trump’s way in November, complete with links to authentic Jewish sources, ancient and contemporary.
I’ll also use this space to remind those with short memories just how destructive (chaotic is too generous a term) Trump’s years in office were.
No Bibi, it’s not out of habit that we are voting this way, it’s because of the Jewish values that evidently you were never taught while growing up in the Philly suburbs. If you think American Jews are just knee-jerk libs and not as committed to Jewish values as anyone on your side of the Knesset, you are underestimating us, sir and insulting our love for our Jewish heritage and all it stands for.
So here it is: Why American Jews won’t / shouldn’t vote for Donald Trump.
The attack on truth: Trump’s lies totaled 30,573 over the 4 years of his presidency. The Talmud states that the commandment 'Do not steal' includes the prohibition against stealing a person’s trust with misleading words. It’s called “G’nayvat Da’at.” The sages delineated seven types of thieves, and that this was considered the worst.
God brought the universe into existence through words. According to Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, "God lives in a word." Trump’s Orwellian attack on truth has taken a terrible toll on words like “patriot,” “freedom,” “free and fair elections” and “religion.” He turns seditious rioters into “freedom fighters,” and victims of racism into “racists.” Judaism understands words to be bearers of holiness. We kiss a mezuzah because it contains a word, the name of God. Recite fourteen words over two burning candles on a Friday evening and you have, magically, brought Shabbat peace into your home. Recite only nine while giving a plain gold band, and you have sanctified a relationship for eternity. Trump has perverted truth through his distortion of words.
To be authentic - Jewishly authentic – means to get beyond the rhetoric, to shun knee jerk responses and clichés, and (to use a cliché), to get ourselves to think outside the box. Studies have shown that even dogs, the ones who respond best to dog whistles, who are by nature Pavlovian, even dogs have a place in their brain that treasures language. All the more so, should we. But Trump lives in a stagnant cesspool of tropes and cliches. His words are meaningless and intentionally so. Some people butcher their words, he murders language itself.
Proverbs 12 promises that for this Lyin’ King, words will be our retribution:
“Facts” were virally infected when the word “alternative,” was allowed to get within six feet, as it did early on. We joke about invented words like “covfefe,” but it is no laughing matter that under Trump, the truth took a battering. Bigly. Other words too managed to hide among the ruins of Trump’s four-year Orwellian assault and have emerged from the furnace unscathed. And some reappeared during the Biden administration after an enforced hiatus — words like “decency,” “dignity,” and “civility,” and my personal favorite, “mensch.” These words are value concepts that Jews embrace.
Trump deliberately uses words that are anathema to Jewish sensibilities. Like his campaign video that spoke longingly of a “unified reich,” imagining what America would look like after a Trump landslide. His language is often peppered with Nazi references and terms like “Gestapo,” and “vermin.”
Or the term “America First,” a not-so-subtle dog whistle reminding us of nativist, Nazi sympathizers of America’s past. Trump’s usage of that expression alone disqualifies him from enlisting Jewish support, at least from those Jews who have studied the 1930s. We can’t forget the destructive language he has used, in particular regarding Jews. And no need for cherry picking here; there is a bounty of insults from which to choose.
When truth is lost, trust in our institutions erodes. Truth and trust are inextricably linked. In the evening service, the prayer just after the Sh'ma begins with those two words, interlocked, “Emet V'Emunah," “truth and trust,” in Hebrew. They go hand in hand. The Talmud (Berachot 12a) notes that the word Emunah is included in the evening service in particular, because, in the words of Psalm 92, "It is good to give thanks unto God and to declare your trustworthiness at night (emunatecha balaylot)." When things are dark and murky, the truth is much more difficult to discern. At times like that, when things are not so black and white, we have to rely on trust. The autocrat knows that once trust in government becomes murky, trust in a single human being can fill that vacuum. And then it becomes easier to form alliances with other strongmen.
Someone whose business relationships are built on fraud has no business being trusted, much less being elected to public office. In business and community relations, so much revolves around trust. An entire tractate of the Talmud discusses the importance of returning lost objects to their owner, so that people will know that their neighbors always have their back. Trump loves to pit people against one another rather than building teams. Everything is transactional. People are used and then discarded. Trust is never built. Just ask his former cabinet members and employees. And then of course, there is the business fraud itself, of which he and his company are guilty, guilty, guilty.
In commerce too. The Talmud states that a merchant may not combine different grades of produce in one bin. A wine salesman whose wine has become diluted with water may not sell it unless he makes it known to his customer, and in any event, he may not sell it to another vendor, even if he makes full disclosure, for fear that the second salesman will deceive his customers. In contrast, Trump has no constraints in deceiving the public, as has been shown in the Manhattan civil fraud case, the Trump University scandal and so much more.
Trump’s treatment of women. Here are 74 things he has said about women. Not to mention what he’s been accused of doing to women. In contrast, here are some mainstream Jewish approaches to women and reproductive rights.
Trump’s not-so-hidden agenda with regard to abortion rights flies in the face of prevailing Jewish law. He is singularly responsible for the elimination of Roe v. Wade and he takes pride in that. Read these quick answers to frequently asked questions about abortion and Judaism and you’ll see Judaism’s view on abortion rights is not just knee-jerk liberalism. It’s about deeply embedded Jewish values as to when life begins. Mishna Ohaloth 7:6 forbids a woman from sacrificing her own life for that of the fetus, and if her life is threatened, the text permits her no other option but abortion. The Dobbs decision is, among many other things, a freedom of religion issue, and Judaism has been duly declared a second class religion by the Supreme Court.
Judaism promotes unity and coexistence. See Psalm 133, “How wonderful it is for people to dwell together as one.” Pirke Avot states, “Be like Aaron, who loves peace and pursues peace – rodef shalom.” It’s not enough to love peace in the abstract. You have to actively make peace, one person at a time. Trump does just the opposite. He drives people apart. He doesn’t care about coexistence. His recent brush with death was supposed to have changed him but he rejected that notion almost immediately and has since stated, “I’m not going to be nice.” Judaism preaches “nice.”
He has made it his goal to corrode Jewish unity as well, by saying Jews who vote for Democrats are disloyal to Israel. Israel used to be a bipartisan issue in Washington. Trump and Netanyahu changed all that, and there is no longer a common space where American Jews can meet and celebrate unity.
Trump’s Israel policies may be debatable, but his motives are never for the benefit of Israel or the Jewish people. He moved the embassy to Jerusalem - in itself perhaps not a bad decision - to appease evangelicals, not Jews, on the eve of a special senate election in Alabama (which his candidate lost). His reckless behavior has alienated allies and encouraged adversaries, including Iran. ±And now, in supporting anti-democratic forces in Israel he is doing the Jewish people no favors.
The demonization of George Soros is classic antisemitism. Trump promotes it openly. The constant attacks on Soros have turned him into a “stand-in for a certain kind of Jewish ‘rootless cosmopolitan’ that allows politicians to appeal to antisemitism without having to do so explicitly.” (Vox) This must be called out, with Zero Tolerance, whenever he or J.D. Vance uses it. And J.D. uses it a lot.
Attacks on Jews come from both the left and the right, but the most violent attacks that have claimed lives have, in America, generally come from the right. Trump has never recognized that. When the Tree of Life shootings took place, Trump’s initial reaction was to criticize the congregation for not having “protection inside” - meaning guards and guns.
Preventing gun violence is also a Jewish value. Ending this plague is a moral imperative. Trump is a prisoner of the N.R.A.
ADL stats showed a huge increase in antisemitic incidents following Trump’s election. The increase has since been exacerbated with antisemitism from the left following Oct. 7., but Trump has never done a thing to lower the temperature from either side.
Jews love to laugh. "It is a great Mitzva to be in a state of constant joy" (Rabbi Nachman of Breslov). Trump never laughs. We can only be suspicious of someone who does not seem to have the ability to show emotion.
Trump does believe in ridicule. He uses humor to demean people. For Jews that is anathema, with the exception being to ridicule the ridiculer, for the powerless to knock the powerful down to size.
To laugh in the face of tragedy is a Jewish specialty. When Trump faces adversity, his preference is not to laugh but to lash out.
Jews believe that there are 613 commandments in the Torah, as delineated by Maimonides. Let’s just say that if he were Jewish he would need to do lots of repenting. But Trump never takes responsibility for anything. That just might be the greatest gap between Trump and the core values of Judaism. Judaism is all about accepting responsibility and repenting to correct our path.
Now, here are some of the 613 commandments that Trump routinely disregards:
Not to blaspheme (Ex. 22:27; in Christian texts, Ex. 22:28), the penalty for which is death (Lev. 24:16). Trump blasphemes by claiming to be be God’s chosen, to claim special status or protection from God. Trump also secretly mocks Christians; calls them "fools" and "schmucks."
To honor the old and the wise (Lev. 19:32). Ask Joe Biden about that one.
Not to stand by idly when a human life is in danger (Lev. 19:16) The country of Ukraine knows all about that. Trump threatened to deny them weapons until they could come up with false evidence about Joe Biden, and now he threatens to let Putin have his way. And when Iran fired 300 missiles and drones Israel’s way, the US and its regional allies did not stand idly by. Thank God Trump was not in charge that night. Would he have coordinated such a response? Would he even have had any allies to coordinate it with? With Biden in charge, not only was Israel defended, but many lives were saved and a wider war was averted.
Not to wrong anyone in speech (Lev. 25:17). Think of what Trump has said about veterans buried at that WW1 cemetery in France, calling them “losers” and “suckers,” and war heroes like John McCain, saying “I like people who weren’t captured.” Well, I like people who aren’t convicted. Trump routinely violates the Jewish principles of Shmirat haLashon (not using destructive language) and Hakarat Hatov (seeing the good in other people).
Not to cherish hatred in one's heart (Lev. 19:17). His innate racism goes way back to his real estate practices and attacks on the Central Park Five. We are still waiting for Trump’s apology for wrongly calling for their death penalty. And he lit a flame to a peaceful protest in Lafayette Park for a photo op with a Bible.
Not to take revenge (Lev. 19:18). Only if he can declare it an “official act.”
Not to bear a grudge (Lev. 19:18). If he wins in November, lots of New York lawyers will be applying for Canadian citizenship.
Not to give occasion to the simple-minded to stumble on the road (Lev. 19:14) (this includes doing anything that will cause another to sin). As he once put it, “I love the poorly educated!” And so he does.
Not to afflict an orphan or a widow (Ex. 22:21). Kids in cages. Project 2025 would roll back Medicare and Medicaid subsidies and negotiated drug prices.
Not to reap the entire field (Lev. 19:9; Lev. 23:22) Trump’s tax plan leaves no corner of the field for the poor.
To love the stranger (Deut. 10:19). Trump Others the stranger. See the Muslim ban and planned upcoming mass deportations, along with his comments about immigrants “poisoning blood” and talk of American concentration camps. He is the living antithesis of the Golden Rule. How any person who calls themselves religious can vote for him is beyond me.
Not to wrong the stranger in speech (Ex. 22:20). From the very start of his public life to this moment, all he and his advisors do is scapegoat asylum seekers. Has Stephen Miller ever read the Torah? Trump’s advisor has clearly abandoned the lessons of his Jewish immigrant past. What’s Jared’s excuse?
Not to delay payment of a hired man's wages (Lev. 19:13) USA TODAY exclusive: Hundreds allege Donald Trump doesn’t pay his bills. Just hundreds?
A person should fulfill whatever he has promised (Deut. 23:24). Where’s that big, beautiful wall? What of Infrastructure Week? Here the 40 biggest promises not kept when Trump was president.
Not to swear needlessly (Ex. 20:7). Does the “N-word” count? And does Netanyahu know what Trump said about him when he congratulated Joe Biden on winning the 2020 election? Israelis woke up to it on the front page of Yediot Achronot (keep in mind that I blacked out the “u”). This according to journalist Barak Ravid's book (you can read the pertinent quotes in English here).
Not to appoint as a judge, a person who is not well versed in the laws of the Torah, even if he is expert in other branches of knowledge (Deut. 1:17). It would be nice were he simply to appoint ethical people.
Not to curse a judge (Ex. 22:27). Nuff said.
Not to testify falsely (Ex. 20:13) OK. They call him a “perjury magnet” and he likely has committed it.
Not to take a bribe (Ex. 23:8) Or offer one. That perfect phone call. And the emoluments clause. See Oversight Democrats Release Report Proving Trump Pocketed Millions From At Least 20 Foreign Governments As President
Not to rebel against the orders of the Court (Deut. 17:11). How many contempt orders? How many court rulings stated that the 2020 election was fair?
To make a parapet for your roof (Deut. 22:8) (CCA75). Not to leave something that might cause hurt (Deut. 22:8). These are all about being responsible to protect people from injury and needless death. A million Americans died of Covid. A panel has estimated that Trump could have prevented up to 40 percent of them. It amazes me that this is not a thing. Yes, he tried to destroy democracy, but he also oversaw the needless deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, including relatives of people who vote.
Not to covet what belongs to another (Ex. 20:14). Greenland.
Not to prophesy falsely (Deut. 18:20). His false messianism is an abomination and very dangerous. See From biblical times to Trump, false messiahs have doomed societies.
Not to lead the children of Israel astray to idolatry (Ex. 23:13) He is the false idol, the Golden / Orange Calf.
That a man shall not wear women's clothing (Deut. 22:5) Or enter the woman’s dressing room at the Miss Universe pageant - or Bergdorf’s.
To appoint a king (Deut. 17:15). And especially to appoint himself. Even if the Supreme Court says it’s OK. He’s telling right-wing Christians they won’t have to vote any more.
Not to destroy fruit trees (wantonly or in warfare) (Deut. 20:19-20). To protect our environment. It’s a Torah commandment, not a woke “Green New Deal.” Trump 2.0 would bring or planet closer to destruction. See Project 2025 Wants to Propel America Into Environmental Catastrophe. That covers Maimonides’ list. Now to wrap up, a couple more important Jewish values
Sedition, Messianism and January 6. Trump is not Jesus. If there is any parallel in the Torah, he is Korah, the rebel who used the veneer of populism and democracy for a power grab. He failed, but not by a lot. Or maybe Trump is Korah’s American alter ego, Koresh. Like David Koresh, he is leading his entranced followers into a cult-like denial of reality. Not coincidentally, the very first rally of Trump’s current campaign took place in Waco, on the 30th anniversary of the Branch Davidian debacle. Why? Why? Like so many of Trump’s followers, here and in Israel, contemporary conspiracy theories commingle with ancient apocalyptic visions. That is very dangerous.
Trump is leading an apocalyptic, nihilistic cult, with him as the designated messiah. This is the opposite of what rabbinic Judaism stands for. The Talmud states, “If you are planting a tree and the Messiah comes to the gates of the city, finish planting the tree, then go out to greet her.” It makes sense to finish planting the tree, for two reasons. 1) If the Messiah turns out to be Al Gore, you’ll get some real brownie points. And 2), because in rabbinic Judaism, the Messiah’s actual coming is beside the point.
For the rabbis, the key to waiting for the Messiah was the waiting itself. They understood how dangerous it is when messianism gets out of hand – that’s why they call it messianism: because things get so messy - and the Judaism that they created was expressly designed to prevent that from happening. But the rabbis didn’t dare eliminate the messianic strain entirely from Jewish tradition. The belief in some sort of end of days, the ultimate goal of a perfect world, a Nirvana - is essential to all spiritual quests. So while we dare not eliminate speculation about the Messiah, nonetheless, authentic rabbinic Judaism falls squarely on the side of Apocalypse Later.
Trump’s language and tactics are decidedly apocalyptic. Some Jews act that way as well (eg some from the settler movement, Kahanists) as do fundamentalist Christians and Muslims. This apocalyptic drive - combined with anti democratic trends - poses a dire threat not just to our way of life, but to life itself. Trump is playing with fire. There are enough nuclear weapons out there, even before we talk about Iran having them (which, thanks in part to him, could happen in a few weeks), to cause mass destruction “the likes of which we’ve never seen” to quote a Trumpian line). Trump needs to be defeated, for sure, but even more, Trumpism needs to be snuffed out. That’s why the change to Harris was so important. Biden might have been able to squeak by, but a squeaker is not what we need right now. We need a wave.
Come to think of it, had Trump not gotten shot, I doubt Biden would have left the race on time. The assassination attempt was a game changer. But whose game was being changed? Trump thinks God was on his side. But was God paying the long game in steering events toward this re-set? Could this be what God was going for?
Nah. I don’t believe that because, as a rabbinic Jew, I believe God has taken a back seat to history.
So, is all this enough reason not to vote for Trump? Does that explain sufficiently why he is the antithesis of Jewish values? Do you need to know more? Notice that I mostly refrained from Holocaust references, though I could have employed plenty. But I wanted to focus on traditional Jewish texts rather than his infatuation with Hitler. Yes, we know that he ostensibly had Hitler’s speeches by his bedside, but that’s OK, as long as that bed is located at Rikers. He can have Mein Kampf by his bedside. As long as we have Project 2025 by ours.
Just remember that before the 2020 election, this is how we felt. We don’t want America to have to go back to the shop for repairs once again. You’ve seen the prooftexts. For Jews, it is a mitzvah to defeat Trumpism.
Meme from 2020, prior to the election
