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Last update - 00:00 04/11/2008
You betcha, Sarah Palin hits a nerve among Jewish women
By Marissa Brostoff, The Forward
Tags: Israel News, feminism 

When Clare Kinberg, editor of a feminist Jewish magazine, set up her booth at an Ann Arbor Jewish community event, she didn't expect to attract a parade of women eager to vent their rage against Sarah Palin. But woman after woman - perhaps noticing Kinberg's Barack Obama pin - approached her to tell stories of how John McCain's vice-presidential pick had galvanized them into becoming active in the Obama campaign. "She really brought out some ire, fear, something personal," said Kinberg, who edits the magazine Bridges. "It was almost a visceral reaction that she represented something anathema against Jewish values, something very deep in their identity." On a political level, it's no surprise that liberal Jewish women don't like Palin - they are liberals, after all, and Palin is an avowed and unabashed conservative, in a heated presidential race. But the Alaska governor also seems to strike a raw nerve on a symbolic level for many Jewish women, drawing far more indignation than a male candidate with similar views, almost as if she offends their sense of who they are.

"It was the place in their identity where they are Jewish women," Kinberg said of the angry voters who dropped by her booth. "People didn't bring up specific things about reproductive rights or abortion or separation of church and state, but it was all of those things wrapped up together."

Palin's attempts to woo both women voters and Jewish voters have made many members of both those groups resent what they see as unwanted advances. Despite being a woman running for vice-president immediately after Hillary Rodham Clinton's defeat in the presidential primaries, Palin has met with disapproval ratings from 45 percent of women (compared with 35 percent of men), according to a Time magazine poll conducted in early October.
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And, despite having cast herself as a take-no-prisoners advocate for Israel, Palin has garnered an approval rating of only 37 percent of the Jewish electorate, according to an American Jewish Committee poll done in September. "In the same way I resent her coopting a feminist message in order to achieve a retrograde goal, I resent her pandering to the insecurities of American Jews," said Ayelet Waldman, a writer in Berkeley, California who has been volunteering full-time with the Obama campaign.

For some, the antipathy toward Palin is located even more closely at the intersection of feminism and Jewish identity. "She's the anti-wonk, the anti-intellectual, someone who doesn't want to brook differences of opinion," said Susan Weidman Schneider, the editor of Lilith, another Jewish feminist journal. "She is certainly not someone with whom I or other Jewish women I know would identify. There's a real sense of alienation." For Schneider, Palin represents the opposite of what Hillary Clinton meant to many women during the presidential primaries. Schneider told the Forward several months ago that she believed Jewish women identified with Clinton to the point of almost reading the senator as Jewish herself, "the same way that some people imagined Bill Clinton, during his time in office, to be the first black president." Even the negative stereotypes that stuck to Hillary Clinton - that she was emasculating or shrill - have also been used to tar Jewish women, while Palin has tapped into an entirely different set of signifiers.

The down-home charm that Palin projects in lieu of a focus on nuance or detail is particularly off-putting for many Jewish women, who are likely to be highly educated, urban and upper-middle class.

"Most Jewish feminists are not part of the class base that she's meant to appeal to," said Alisa Solomon, a professor of journalism at Columbia University. "So when she's deliberately dropping her 'g's and throwing out her 'you betchas,' that doesn't appeal to us. We're not the audience for it."

More so than Obama or McCain, Palin seems to "read" in basically the same way across the political spectrum, with voters mostly in agreement about what Palin represents, but differing vastly in how they feel about those representations. Palin's admirers among Jewish women, fittingly, seem to be concentrated most heavily in Orthodox communities, where her image as a religious person and an upholder of family values resonates. "Most of the women I've talked to from my circles seemed to like her, at least at first," said Baila Olidort, the editor of Lubavitch.com, the Web site of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement. "When she was first introduced, I thought, 'This is terrific.'"

Olidort said that she has had second thoughts since Palin's weak interview performances, and that she has not yet decided how she will vote, but that on an ideological level, Palin's "views are aligned quite well with traditional Jewish views."

Opinion on Palin seems to be split among Jews who are observant but not ultra-Orthodox - a swing-voting demographic that both parties would like to nab.

"People say, 'Oh, she's a creationist,'" said Judy Davidson, a resident of Downingtown, Pa. who describes herself as being in between the Conservative and Orthodox movements. "What she believes is what every Orthodox Jew believes. We love her." Davidson runs a kosher sports-themed Internet cafe and sells Jewish McCain and Palin campaign paraphernalia on the side. But, perhaps hewing again to class lines, Lynne Bermont, a professor at New York University who lives on Manhattan's Upper West Side and describes herself as a fairly observant Conservative Jew, told the Forward that, "as a Jewish woman, I am most proud to be part of a tradition that valorizes ethical integrity and intellectual activity...Sarah Palin is antithetical to all of these values."

Lana Gersten and Brett Lieberman contributed reporting.

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  • Sarah Palin wig proves to be a hit among Orthodox Jewish women
  • Chabad envoy to Alaska: Palin staunch friend of Jews
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      1.   Jewish women & Palin 06:32  |  Harold F 04/11/08
      2.   Why so obsessed with your religion? 07:11  |  Marilyn 04/11/08
      3.   stupid jewish women 07:21  |  paul almond 04/11/08
      4.   I Think They Should Loosen Up 07:41  |  Yosemite 04/11/08
      5.   Harold and why "smart women don`t like 07:49  |  marc 04/11/08
      6.   Jews & Palin 07:56  |  American Iranian 04/11/08
      7.   women w/JEWISH values like Palin; w/Upper West Side values don`t 08:06  |  Jodi 04/11/08
      8.   Same Jewish Women Silent Re Lefty Jew Hatred 08:15  |  Tod Zuckerman 04/11/08
      9.   I don`t get it 08:16  |  James ben Goy 04/11/08
      10.   The Feminists are a sad joke amongst all but their ilk 08:19  |  redmike 04/11/08
      11.   She`s OK 08:27  |  Rina 04/11/08
      12.   Women and Palin 08:28  |  JW 04/11/08
      13.   Liability? 08:41  |  Joe 04/11/08
      14.   spoiled brats 09:19  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 04/11/08
      15.   Who cares what these women think 09:23  |  McCain 04/11/08
      16.   Berkeley? 09:38  |  Matt 04/11/08
      17.   Palin: Enjoying minute 14 of her 15 minutes of fame 10:06  |  Natallie Durson 04/11/08
      18.   It is not only Jewish women who dislike Stupid Sarah 10:39  |  Leeza Cohen Coleman 04/11/08
      19.   Talkbacks Show the Divide 10:50  |  Mark of Lewiston 04/11/08
      20.   To Leeza, Number 18 11:03  |  Aryeh 04/11/08
      21.   Cipora Julianna Kohn just doesn`t get it #14 11:07  |  Roo 04/11/08
      22.   Silly jealous women!! 11:24  |  Bobby the Jew 04/11/08
      23.   Who will condemn Sandra Bernhardt? 11:24  |  Manny Goldstein 04/11/08
      24.   and Roo doesnt get it... 11:33  |  pelsar 04/11/08
      25.   On Sarah Palin 11:35  |  Clickfool 04/11/08
      26.   Palin makes me.... 11:40  |  bobby 04/11/08
      27.   Feminists are irrelevant today 11:47  |  saus 04/11/08
      28.   #24, pelsar, roo never gets it 11:51  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 04/11/08
      29.   Imagine the sheer, mind-bending awfulness... 12:06  |  Clickfool 04/11/08
      30.   Here too 12:07  |  Mr Ipp 04/11/08
      31.   #24 pelsar-Palin the environmetalist! 12:14  |  Roo 04/11/08
      32.   Liberal Obsession 12:19  |  guy 04/11/08
      33.   yes roo Palin the environmentalist.... 12:36  |  pelsar 04/11/08
      34.   Women dislike women, pure and simple 12:45  |  dyinglikeflies 04/11/08
      35.   There are moronic bigots everywhere, you betcha! 13:33  |  Mark Lincoln 04/11/08
      36.   #17 NUTallie Durson 13:38  |  * BEN JABO 04/11/08
      37.   29 Clickfool - Sarah Palin is far more preferable 13:44  |  * BEN JABO 04/11/08
      38.   Mark L...moronic bigots... 13:47  |  pelsar 04/11/08
      39.   #33 pelsar -you are huffing, puffing and bluffing 13:50  |  Roo 04/11/08
      40.   A Hockeymom on high heels, lipstick and a pony tail 14:17  |  Alicia 04/11/08
      41.   Thanks for the chuckle, Ben Jabo # 37 14:19  |  Clickfool 04/11/08
      42.   no huffing and puffing... 14:20  |  pelsar 04/11/08
      43.   pelsar-Bush`s degree 14:32  |  Glen Wald. 04/11/08
      44.   THIS ISN`T ABOUT PALIN, THIS ABOUT MCCAIN, BABY 14:48  |  indrajaya 04/11/08
      45.   Glen yale vs harvard.... 14:48  |  pelsar 04/11/08
      46.   pelsar #42 bluff bluff bluff and then some 14:57  |  Roo 04/11/08
      47.   Palin is a Natural, Some Feminists are a Disgrace 15:33  |  NoToStupidRules 04/11/08
      48.   How Many Haredi Rabbis Preach Evolution? Is Palin to be blamed? 15:39  |  ProEnlightenment 04/11/08
      49.   Marilyn: Why Obssessed With Jews? 16:00  |  Tex 04/11/08
      50.   Only themselves to blame 16:00  |  Joe Camel 04/11/08
      51.   Jodi: Fake "Jew" 16:01  |  Tex 04/11/08
      52.   Pelsar: The Idiot Is You 16:03  |  Tex 04/11/08
      53.   OK, I can understand that 16:08  |  Bitin Dawg 04/11/08
      54.   Cipora Julianna Kohn, not so... 16:28  |  Jacob 04/11/08
      55.   From an Alaskan Woman--Sarah is Stupid 16:45  |  Mea 04/11/08
      56.   roo...you should get out more... 16:57  |  pelsar 04/11/08
      57.   VOTE PALIN OR LILITH???? 17:02  |  Barry S. Roffman 04/11/08
      58.   You betcha, Sarah Palin hits a nerve among Jewish women 17:07  |  steve 04/11/08
      59.   How "weak" are Jewish women? 17:09  |  ursula wolfson 04/11/08
      60.   You betcha, Sarah Palin hits a nerve among Jewish women 17:10  |  steve 04/11/08
      61.   #5 17:15  |  Harold F 04/11/08
      62.   You betcha, Sarah Palin hits a nerve among Jewish women 17:17  |  steve 04/11/08
      63.   jewish values? 17:21  |  hollingsworth 04/11/08
      64.   #2 Marilyn just a ridiculous comeback 17:27  |  Big Sur 04/11/08
      65.   Who Cares What These Yentas Think 17:45  |  Kipperraes 04/11/08
      66.   #27 Saus: time for a reality check 17:51  |  Alicia 04/11/08
      67.   This is an AMERICAN election 18:14  |  Shut up 04/11/08
      68.   Maybe it is not ethnicity 18:40  |  Teresa-Maria 04/11/08
      69.   41, clickfool 18:43  |  Harry 04/11/08
      70.   The WORLD`s future depends on the AM-election! 18:44  |  Alicia 04/11/08
      71.   Grateful for Freedom of Speech 18:58  |  Leeza Cohen Coleman 04/11/08
      72.   Re CJK (#14) 19:25  |  Morrris Valentine 04/11/08
      73.   70, Alicia 19:51  |  Harry 04/11/08
      74.   #70 - Alicia 19:53  |  Shut up 04/11/08
      75.   SARAH 19:53  |  HARRIS 04/11/08
      76.   71, Leeza 19:54  |  Harry 04/11/08
      77.   ? Obama drops his g`s, and he`s a prep school, Ivy leaguer 20:04  |  DJStahl 04/11/08
      78.   the rapture 20:10  |  robert 04/11/08
      79.   pelsar-#56 And you should definitely stay indoors! 20:13  |  Roo 04/11/08
      80.   palin 20:14  |  robert 04/11/08
      81.   obama 20:14  |  robert 04/11/08
      82.   michelle obama 20:18  |  robert 04/11/08
      83.   single jewish women 20:21  |  afraid to state 04/11/08
      84.   I am Barak Obama & I approve this Ad. 20:23  |  FOX 04/11/08
      85.   Brain dead liberals don`t like Palin. What else is new? 20:28  |  Chaim 04/11/08
      86.   Morris, your attack on Cipora 20:32  |  FOX 04/11/08
      87.   Haaretz talkback is fun!!! 20:34  |  Leeza Cohen Coleman 04/11/08
      88.   Not proud to be a Jewish American today 20:34  |  Scott S. 04/11/08
      89.   Tod #8 20:38  |  Isaiah 04/11/08
      90.   Where is Paul Harris from Tel Aviv? 20:40  |  Brian Freund 04/11/08
      91.   Leeza Coleman, blood libel 20:48  |  FOX 04/11/08
      92.   #72,MV, they are not classy 20:59  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 04/11/08
      93.   Palin -- the Female George Bush 21:03  |  MarkW 04/11/08
      94.   "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" 21:08  |  FOX 04/11/08
      95.   #54, Jacob 21:09  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 04/11/08
      96.   sense of alienation 21:25  |  hollingsworth 04/11/08
      97.   Palin a simple goornischt--rightwingers, your days are done 21:35  |  David 04/11/08
      98.   Still in the tank 21:50  |  Shaul 04/11/08
      99.   Feminism is dead 22:00  |  Shaul 04/11/08
      100.   response to spoiled brats 22:15  |  Yaella Landau 04/11/08
      101.   hits Jewish men in the same nerve 22:44  |  Laible 04/11/08
      102.   FOX #84 CV for a Woman VP 23:06  |  Roo 04/11/08
      103.   #67 Shut up! before you make a fool... 23:07  |  FOX 04/11/08
      104.   Leeza Coleman, why Lie? #71 23:19  |  FOX 04/11/08
      105.   FOX, Palin asked 3 times about banning books... 23:53  |  BBSNews 04/11/08
      106.   Jewish Women 23:57  |  Jon 04/11/08
      107.   Scott S in North Carolina... 00:00  |  BBSNews 05/11/08
      108.   #107 does michael @badnews with b/s 00:26  |  victor hardman 05/11/08
      109.   Women voters and Jewish voters? 00:35  |  City Buddha 05/11/08
      110.   Upwardly mobile trailer-park mentality 01:07  |  Josh 05/11/08
      111.   FOX #104-how about some manners? 01:11  |  C.P 05/11/08
      112.   To Fox (#86) 02:01  |  Morris Valentine 05/11/08
      113.   #111, C.P. 02:07  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 05/11/08
      114.   #112, MV, "insincere, snobby and effete" 03:10  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 05/11/08
      115.   An outdated Jewish princess 03:11  |  Josh 05/11/08
      116.   Jewish(?) women(?) 03:18  |  Shmuelshachor 05/11/08
      117.   #86, FOX 03:26  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 05/11/08
      118.   #87, leeza, buy a mirror 03:29  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 05/11/08
      119.   Sarah Palin 03:31  |  Gail 05/11/08
      120.   Palin... 04:37  |  johnnymac 05/11/08
      121.   # 41 04:58  |  Johnnymac 05/11/08
      122.   Reply to Isaiah (89) 05:06  |  Tod zuckerman 05/11/08
      123.   Self-hating destruction 05:27  |  Dan 05/11/08
      124.   You ground her to dust- you`ve now got Obama and Wright!!! 06:16  |  Dan 05/11/08
      125.   Sarah`s Personality 07:08  |  Jeanette Kiesling 05/11/08
      126.   These women are leftists first & evoke Judaism to advence their a 07:20  |  Alan 05/11/08
      127.   Palin - Supporter of Israel ? 07:37  |  Maxine 05/11/08
      128.   Back to Alaska 07:43  |  Leeza Cohen Coleman 05/11/08
      129.   Back to Alaska: Stupid Sarah Says So Long 07:47  |  Leeza Cohen Coleman 05/11/08
      130.   I`m a Jewish woman who admires Sarah Palin 08:44  |  JM 05/11/08
      131.   there`s REALLY NO SECRET to this... 08:45  |  eric 05/11/08
      132.   sarah Palin 09:01  |  Stivelle Castel 05/11/08
      133.   To CJK (#114): Kindess is as kindness does 09:20  |  Morris Valentine 05/11/08
      134.   #120 09:25  |  Catherine 05/11/08
      135.   # 14 to cipora re: palin 10:25  |  eric 05/11/08
      136.   # 112 to morris re: snobby and insincere 11:01  |  eric 05/11/08
      137.   C.P. what are you going on about? 11:06  |  FOX 05/11/08
      138.   FOX #137 what`s the problem, sobered up? 13:05  |  C.P 05/11/08
      139.   palin 14:23  |  malach hamovess 05/11/08
      140.   Why to You Complain? 15:01  |  Ralph 05/11/08
      141.   and not only jewish women 15:25  |  Flavia 05/11/08
      142.   Sarah 16:14  |  Blurrie 05/11/08
      143.   Trig Palin 17:02  |  Lou 05/11/08
      144.   Sarah Palin impact 17:13  |  Norton Nedoss 05/11/08
      145.   I agree with #3 17:46  |  Yehudit 05/11/08
      146.   Trig Palin 18:13  |  Blurrie 05/11/08
      147.   traditional Jewish values? 18:20  |  Christo 05/11/08
      148.   #143 Pretty face Palin 20:06  |  Flavia 05/11/08
      149.   Silent Sarah 20:53  |  Leeza Cohen Coleman 05/11/08
      150.   You betcha.... 21:56  |  nora 05/11/08
      151.   To eric (#136): Here, have a cigar 23:04  |  Morris Valentine 05/11/08
      152.   To JM (#130) 23:10  |  Morris Valentine 05/11/08
      153.   By Marissa Brostoff, The Forward 00:10  |  American Male 06/11/08
      154.   #152...Morris Valentine 00:40  |  Malone 06/11/08
      155.   Palin around with terrorists 02:44  |  Hashuan 06/11/08
      156.   129 Leeza Cohen Coleman - You`re just jealous 03:41  |  * BEN JABO 06/11/08
      157.   Clickfool - Glad you enjoyed the laugh 03:44  |  * BEN JABO 06/11/08
      158.   Marilyn #2 -- Why are you obsessed with my religion? 05:56  |  bbl 06/11/08
      159.   #149 Leeza Cohen Coleman 23:36  |  * BEN JABO 07/11/08
      160.   Palin is a real feminist 18:45  |  Lisa Medel 10/11/08
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