Item 1 (of 2): The "Right" vs. The "Good". On today's CNN "Capital Gang", a segment discussed panelist Robert Novak's conversion from Judaism to Catholicism. I had been unclear about Novak's religious affiliation because, tho many Novaks are Jewish, many others are Catholic, since it is a common Polish name, and Poland was both an early center for Ashkenazi Jewry and an intensely Catholic country. We have been reminded of Poland's Catholic piety many times in the coverage of the death of the Polish pope, John Paul II.
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I checked the origin of the name, which I understood to have different forms, chief among them in the United States "Novak" and "Nowak". About.com has this explanation:

Definition: New guy in town, from the root now, meaning new. The Nowak surname was occasionally bestowed on one who converted to Christianity (a new man). The Nowak surname is among the most common in Poland and is also very common in other Slavic countries, especially the Czech Republic (where it is spelled NOVAK).

So Robert Novak is very appropriately named.*
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One of the other "Capital Gang" panelists, Al Hunt, recalled that the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, Senator from New York and a stalwart of the progressive movement, affectionately ribbed Novak with something like, 'So now you're a Catholic. When are you going to become a Christian?' Novak responded to Hunt's anecdote "To be a good person, you don't have to be a liberal."
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Yes, I'm afraid you do.
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Oh, conservatism may once have allowed of goodness, but today, "compassionate conservatism" is a contradiction in terms. Today's conservatism is harsh, heartless, callous radical libertarianism whose motto could be "I've got mine. I don't care about you."
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It has always irritated liberals that conservatives and libertarians get to call themselves the "Right", which subliminally suggests that anyone else is "Wrong", because that's all that's "Left". Maybe we should start calling ourselves the "Good", for wanting the best for everyone, and let the selfish continue to call themselves the "Right". Among which would you rather be numbered? The Right, or The Good?
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Item 2: Reasons to Convert. Robert Novak was long one of the few nationally known Jews to be critical of Israel. In an interview at St. Francis University, he was asked about this:

[Q] During your commencement address, you mentioned your conversion from Judaism to Catholicism. It struck me interesting that you were born Jewish but have been such an outspoken critic of Israel’s position on the Palestinian situation. How did you come to your position of this particular problem?

[A] Well, I haven’t been an observant Jew since I was thirteen years old. I think there are a lot of Jews who think like me. Other people often ask me why I am anti-Israel. I’m not; I just think we need to have a more balanced approach to this situation.

He amplified that a bit:

[Q] I would also like you to address the Israeli-Palestinian situation.

[A] Well, I think that we have made a terrible mistake. We can’t be a mediator and then move over here and back Sharon’s plan. I have a lot of Palestinian friends who have been devastated by our shift away from mediation. I think that we need to restore the balance. Kerry is as bad as Bush on this.

Quite so. You can't be an "honest broker" if even before the negotiations have begun, you take one side against the other. And the United States, under both major parties, has always taken Israel's side. Even when a U.S. Administration criticizes in words, it keeps shipping boatloads of cash to support the very behavior it pretends to disapprove. No one is fooled.
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Today there was another multiple murder of Palestinians by Israel:

Ali Abu Zeid, a 22-year-old Rafah resident, said a group of boys were playing soccer in an open area in the Rafah camp when the ball was kicked toward the border fence. "The kids ran after it, and that's when we heard gunfire," he said.

Palestinian hospital officials said the two of the dead youths were 15 years old and the third was 14.

The Israeli army said a group of youths had entered an unauthorized area near the border and ignored warning shots to stop. The shots were fired by forces patrolling the area in an armed vehicle, the army said.

When was the last time you heard of American police shooting kids for chasing after a ball? It is this kind of thing done over and over and over without end that has driven all decent people away from Zionism.
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Perhaps Robert Novak did not consciously leave Judaism because of Zionism, but was drawn to Catholicism for simply spiritual reasons. But many American Jews are abandoning Judaism and the compelled allegiance to Israel it seems to entail.
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An organization called "Jews for Judaism" was established to fight massive conversions to Christianity, especially among Americans. Their website says:

Missionaries convince their recruits that they are not complete as Jews until they accept Jesus as the Messiah, and that a Jew retains his or her Jewish identity after converting to Christianity. According to a 1990 Council of Jewish Federations population study, over 600,000 Jews in North America alone identify with some type of Christianity. Over the past 25 years, more than 275,000 Jews worldwide have been converted specifically by missionaries who use deceptive tactics that masquerade Christian beliefs in the guise of Judaism.* * *

Contrary to popular perception, it is not only emotionally unstable Jews [say what?!] who fall prey to the missionaries' efforts; in fact, all Jews are susceptible. Missionaries often target college campuses, hospitals, drug rehabilitation programs, seniors' residences, and shopping malls in Jewish neighborhoods, as well as the Israeli community, Soviet immigrants and intermarried couples. They deliberately misquote, mistranslate and misinterpret Jewish scriptures and rabbinical texts in an attempt to "prove" that Jesus was both the Jewish Messiah and G-d. Their delegitimization of Judaism, in concert with their misleading exploitation of Jewish symbols, religious artifacts and even traditional music, serve to confuse the potential convert, making him or her more vulnerable.

These missionary groups -- over 900 in North America alone -- are active worldwide, and can be found in almost every Jewish population center. Several governing bodies in this movement have considerable political clout; one has even been granted "observer" status at the United Nations. Several groups have founded "Messianic Jewish" day schools for children and "yeshivot" where they produce ordained "Messianic rabbis." There are over 100 "Messianic congregations" in Israel, and over 38 in the former Soviet Union. These groups prey almost exclusively upon uneducated, unaffiliated and alienated Jews.

In response to this ever-growing threat, Jews for Judaism International was established in 1986. The only worldwide counter-missionary resource and outreach network, Jews for Judaism has branches in Los Angeles; New York; Baltimore; Washington, D.C.; Toronto; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Melbourne, Australia. Its two primary goals are preventive education and winning back those Jews who have been influenced by missionaries. * * *

How successful is Jews for Judaism? There is a 60 to 70% chance that any Jewish person who is considering converting to Christianity, or already has converted, will return to Judaism if they are willing to listen to the Jewish point of view. Most of these individuals leave our counseling with a renewed and vital appreciation of their Jewish heritage.

Still, there's only a 60-70% chance of winning back Jews who have left Judaism. If Israel would stop shooting children, there might not be so many Jews who want to escape Judaism.
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* Another website, confirming the "newcomer" etymology without mentioning conversion equates it with English "Newman", which is also a common Jewish name, tho the German equivalent/predecessor "Neumann" is also a common Catholic name, including the name of a saint from Philadelphia. Another website mentions an alternative origin for the name: "was also used to identify a shoemaker who made new shoes, as distinct from a cobbler who repaired old ones", even tho it also says the name derives from "a nickname, that is to say, it is derived from a nickname that was attributed in the intitial bearer. In this instance, the surname finds its roots in the word "nowy" which literally means "new". Thus, the surname Novak originated as a nickname for a newcomer to a place."
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(The current U.S. military death toll in Iraq, according to the website "Iraq Coalition Casualties", is 1,546.).)
- posted by L. Craig Schoonmaker @ 11:18 PM