CARTER AND THE JEWS

"Jewish radar sets are up all over, sensing a new political configuration," declares Chicago Financier Maynard Wishner, a leader of the city's Jewish community. What those radars are picking up, of course, is the orbiting presidential candidacy of Jimmy Carter. How America's Jews are going to respond to him has been of concern for Carter campaign strategists. They are troubled by the specter of 1972, when Jews--like other traditional Democrats--deserted Democratic Presidential Nominee George McGovern in droves. Instead of polling over 80% of the Jewish vote, as John Kennedy (1960) and Hubert Humphrey (1968) did, and 90%, as Lyndon Johnson (1964) did, McGovern cornered only around 60%.

Carter, in recent weeks, has mounted a determined effort to woo Jews. He has advertised heavily in Jewish publications, huddled with Jewish community notables, sent personal mailings to Jewish voters and appointed a special director for Jewish affairs. Helping him have been a number of Atlanta's Jews; evangelizing across the nation, they are stressing Carter's long and close relationship with Georgia's Jewish leaders and that, as Governor, he appointed Jews to prominent state positions.

In some ways, the hesitations of America's Jews toward Carter are not unique; they represent a variation on the themes that emerged during the long primary season--a Northerner's suspicion of a politician from the South, an apprehension about a contender lacking experience in national Government and a displeasure about what has been perceived (however incorrectly) as Carter's fuzziness on specific issues. In addition, as Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, President of the American Jewish Congress, points out: "There's no national Jewish leader who can actually say, 'Jimmy Carter is my friend.' "

One of the special issues that seem to concern Jews is Carter's evangelical Southern Baptist faith (see RELIGION). In a recent letter to Reform Jewish leaders across the nation, Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler, President of the American Union of Hebrew Congregations, recalled that "historically, anti-Semitism had its roots in fundamentalist religion." But he immediately added that it "is unjust and paradoxical for religious Jews to look askance at a man because he is deeply religious."

Carter publicly confronted the religious issue early last week in Elizabeth, NJ. Responding to a question from a predominantly Jewish audience of 2,000, the candidate--a blue velvet yarmulke perched atop his head--declared extemporaneously: "I worship the same God you do; we [Baptists] study the same Bible that you do. This is a country wherein one's own religious faith should not be a matter of prejudice or concern. The ability of Jews, Catholics, Baptists, even atheists to work in harmony with one another in our nation, based on a system of religious pluralism, is one that is precious to me." Later Carter added that he opposed federal aid to parochial schools and favored the Supreme Court's ban on religious prayer in the public schools--two stances with which the majority of U.S. Jewry concur.

The other issue of very special concern to American Jews is, of course, Israel--which has become something of an automatic litmus by which every national politician is tested. While Carter has long been a firm supporter of Israel, he most clearly enunciated his views on the Middle East in his prepared address last week in Elizabeth. There he declared, to enthusiastic applause, that "the survival of Israel is not a political issue. It is a moral imperative." He sharply criticized Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's penchant for personalized and secret handling of foreign affairs, including the shuttle, step-by-step diplomacy that has achieved cease-fires in Sinai and on the Golan Heights. Carter complained that "the underlying threat to Israel" has been left "unresolved." He called for "a general settlement" to be reached by "direct negotiation between the parties."

This could well mean a convoking of something like the shortlived Geneva Conference that met just after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The speech, however, was silent about the possibly dangerous consequences of such a conference stalemating and collapsing. Nor did it indicate how Carter would deal with the thorniest of the Middle East's issues: Israel's precise borders, the status of Jerusalem and the resolution of the Palestinian problem. While he acknowledged that "the Palestinians have rights which must be recognized," he condemned Palestinian terrorists, not only for their attacks on Israelis, but also because they "undermine their own people's best interests."

Carter's proposals, in some important aspects, do not differ radically from the Administration's approach in the Middle East, for Kissinger privately concedes that his shuttle diplomacy has probably achieved as much as it can. But Carter definitely seems to tilt toward the Israelis, rather than attempt to be evenhanded, as the Administration has tried to be since the 1973 war. At Elizabeth, for instance, the candidate talked of an "absolute assurance of Israel's survival and security." Even here, however, the difference between Carter and the Administration is primarily one of emphasis; for example, President Ford declared just last month that the U.S. "will remain the ultimate guarantor of Israel's freedom." With their positions apparently so close, if Ford and Carter both receive their parties' nominations, U.S. diplomacy in the Israeli-Arab dispute may not--as conventional wisdom has it--have to take a holiday and avoid new initiatives until after the November voting.

Carter's goal, if he wins the nomination, is to receive the nearly unanimous Jewish vote that Democrats had enjoyed until the McGovern debacle. This may not be an easy task. Although Ford and Kissinger have been criticized by U.S. Jews for pressuring Israel to make concessions to the Arabs, Ford has also backed massive aid for the Israelis ($4.5 billion in two years). Notes Harvard Political Scientist Nadav Safran, himself a Cairo-born Jew: "If Ford modulates his position vis-a-vis Israel a bit, the vote in November would be divided. Carter would still get the majority, but it might not be overwhelming."

Ultimately, the special "Jewish issues" will not be the sole factor in determining what Jews will do at the polls in November. The candidates' personalities and the full and complex spectrum of national issues are likely to count as much for Jews as for tens of millions of their non-Jewish countrymen.

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