So it was kind of a family tradition to associate being Jewish with being liberal (although my mother’s side of the family were mainly Republicans). But to me as a young kid idealist of the Bob Dylan, Joan Baez folkie leftist persuasion, what I saw were Jews and liberals, and liberal Jews and observant Jews and secular Jews and Jewish secularists all supporting the great American movement for social justice that was the Civil Rights movement.

For we were slaves in Egypt once, right? How could we not be at the forefront of protests against racist former slave-state sponsored segregation in the South and racism in the North?…

The sad thing, I admit, has been the way Leftists and all-too many liberals have decided that murderers and genocide promoters such as Hamas are oppressed rather than despicable. It’s a struggle to remain a liberal and see fellow Jewish liberals fall for this suicidal fallacy, but nothing in life, certainly not in political life is simple.

But if you want a simple answer to why Jews are liberal, ask where were conservatives during the civil rights movement of the 60s, the social justice movements of the 40s. Aligned with Father Coughlin and Charles Lindberg, not so secret fascist sympathizers.