lutions will be adopted that speak notrnonce of God and the Torah of Sinai butrnof the ethnic language of “continuityrnand survival.” “Judaism teaches” andrn”the far left of the Democratic Party advocates”rn—select your subject, the predicaternwill be the same.rnAmerican politics, however, do notrndivide up among ethnic groups, formingrnrace-coalitions behind negotiated truths.rnOn the contrary, you do not have to be arnJew to favor what Jews advocate. If yournwant to support public education as wernnow know it, join NEA. If you want tornadvocate more money for welfare, or raisingrntaxes for increased support for unmarriedrnteenage mothers, or any of thernother buzzwords at the NJCRAC meeting,rnwhy not find the appropriate, general-rnmembership group to fight for yourrncause? After all, we Jewish conservativesrnhave founded no counterpart to advocaternlife against abortion, the familyrnagainst God-knows-what, to support taxrnreform and a balanced budget or arnvoucher system in education. We justrnfind our rightful place in the mainstreamrnof the politics we espouse. And we dornnot find it necessary to demonstrate outrnof the writings of the Torah that RonaldrnReagan embodied the virtues of Mosesrnor that the Evil Empire representedrnSatan—though some of us would findrnlittle difficulty in adducing probativernproof-texts for both propositions, amongrnmany favored by our politics.rnWhat is the difference? The rightrnadvocates a single law for all Americans,rnequality before the law; the left discriminates.rnThe right opens the mainstreamrnto all comers; the left defines societyrnin terms of ethnic or racial groups. Thernright favors integration and equal opportunity;rnthe left, segregation andrnracially proportionate outcomes. So it isrnquite natural for the Jews to ghettoizernthemselves on the left—if that is thernpolitics they wish to adopt. Still, this isrnodd, for the left has consistently takenrnpositions hostile to what is good for thernJewish community—tolerating anti-rnSemitic black racism in the name ofrn”free speech,” for instance—^while thernright has advocated what is good for thisrncountry and, therefore, also good forrnJews. The left ghettoizes Jews, thus hijackingrnJudaism.rnJacob Neusner is Distinguished ResearchrnProfessor ofReHgious Studiesrnat the University of South Florida inrnTampa.rnLetter From Moscowrnby Robert C. WhittenrnSpirituality and the RussianrnArmed ForcesrnThe once-mighty Russian Army is in arnstate of disarray. With the collapse ofrnthe Soviet Union, it lost much of its substancernand all of its moral bearings. Sornfar, nothing has replaced the latter. Torncompound matters, the citizenry, oncernproud of its armed forces, tends to lookrnon them with disdain or even hostility,rnespecially the young. Meanwhile, Russia’srnwoeful economic state has madernthe ruble almost worthless and seriouslyrnaffected military pay, causing a drasticrndecline in living conditions. Field gradernofficers up to the rank of colonel are livingrnwith their families in boxcars, whilernmany company grade officers have beenrnreduced to tents—tents, even in the Russianrnwinter. We do not yet have reliablernfigures on the death toll of infants andrnsmall children under these conditions,rnbut they must be enormous given the severernshortage of pharmaceuticals andrnmedical facilities. The senior officers ofrnthe army are not faring so poody. Therngenerals’ access to military resources thatrncan be sold on the open market has enabledrnsome of them to survive quite well.rnNot all of them are crooked, of course,rnbut the temptations are great.rnIt is against this background that somernof the army’s responsible leaders speak ofrn”the spiritual rebirth of the Russianrnarmed forces.” As the leaders put it, thernarmed forces have lost the old ethics (ofrnthe Communist Party) while a newrnethics has yet to appear. To aid in “givingrnbirth to the spiritual rebirth,” thernRussians have held several meetings inrn9m,rnâ„¢.i-«..«™—™,«,m—, oZ’^rn’^^itnTiiir * H. .1 c-1rn•«««…..«(».»,. . « , N . C — ^ ^ * – ,rn” ir^^sssrrs^.—««.-. c—«-rn” ‘i:;.’5sr.trsKE«^—rn’X.’?â„¢JSSK”â„¢-rn••ESrs^sr,–**-,rn. ^ o – « – 0 — « « – B « . a – — ,rn.««.»—«..««,«rn,».<>«»n^.<.«,»rn•^s^^vSm,—rn„ « „ « « ^rn.««.-,»-…—«„rnXT:r.S ‘—rnSaSsas.rn'””^nt-Trn’ssis^JS;rni i . « i ‘rn1.1rn11,H7rnH.OIJrn,„rn-^rnHJrnt i lrn. 1 . . . 7rnIIIrnliT” nmnrrn~~—’^”rn,;c2r “^SSSi.rn1rn1rn—.rn^«-.^l>lgl.^rn..00rn11.rn0,71!rn.LO.rn4711rn.^nrn,»orntoirn”iXrn- • “-fiJ’-^Srn• vr^’v^;rnDECEMBER 1994/37rnrnrn