The Truce Rabbis issued a statement Monday, in part, encouraging progressive Jews who are considering boycotting the presidential election to participate. Photo by Getty Images

With Arno Rosenfeld
28 October 2024

The Rabbis of the Truce, a group founded last fall to oppose Israel’s war in Gaza, has encouraged its followers to vote for candidates who support liberal policies in upcoming elections, despite concerns about Democrats’ support for Israel, even though it is prohibited to support a candidate.

Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris are hoping that such sentiments from those disappointed with her approach to the Israel-Hamas war will translate into votes for her on Election Day.

“Each of us must cast a choice at the ballot box that we believe will best position our multifaith, multiracial, queer-affirming communities to care for each other and the world,” the nonprofit Truce Rabbis said in a statement. “And to reserve the right to protest and organize to realize the world we need.”

The statement came more than a month after the National Nonpartisan Movement, which encouraged voters to oppose President Joe Biden in the Democratic primary, said so. I would not approve Harris, however, referred to Republican former President Donald Trump and called for “neutral voters to register their anti-Trump votes.”

Some have translated this as permission to vote for Harris, since other options (voting for Trump or a third-party candidate) could benefit the former president.

(Uncommitted is organized as a political action committee that can campaign for and against candidates.)

Rabbi Alissa Wise, who founded Rabbis for a Ceasefire last October, said the statement was intended to reach progressive Jews who were considering boycotting the election, in part, out of anger at Vice President Kamala Harris’ support for Israel.

“We wanted to give people some space and space to be kind to themselves,” Wise said in an interview. “There is no way to get out of this situation without moral or ethical damage.”

More than 360 rabbis and rabbinical students have signed the Rabbis’ Call for a Ceasefire, calling for an end to Israeli military operations in Gaza and for Hamas to release Israeli hostages captured in the October 7 terrorist attack in southern Israel.

Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari, who leads Kol Tzedek, a Reconstructionist congregation in Philadelphia, helped organize rabbis for the Armistice, and said many of his congregants are struggling with whether to vote this year.

“They are heartbroken and angry that the United States continues to finance this genocide in Gaza,” Fornari said. “They face their own internal moral dilemma.”

But in an email to the congregation on Sunday, Fornari said he voted for Harris and other Democrats and urged them to participate in the election. He added that some members were considering “swapping” their votes with liberal voters in swing states who would not vote for Harris in exchange for supporting Democrats in Pennsylvania.

The rabbis’ statement for the Ceasefire also warned against blaming other progressives, especially Arab and Muslim voters, for not supporting Harris. “Our movement for justice and collective liberation is not helped by blaming each other on the left for the failures of our political system,” he said.

Some Democrats worry that Harris’ support for Israel, including the ongoing Gaza war, could cost her enough votes among Arab and Muslim voters in Michigan to hand the state and possibly the election to Trump. In Michigan’s February primaries, more than 100,000 people voted “neutral” at the insistence of pro-Palestinian activists.

“The left, and I think all political movements, tend to eat each other alive,” Wise said. “We wanted to encourage people to rise to the challenge and keep our eyes focused on the long term.”