National

Most American Jews, who continue to overwhelmingly vote Democratic, will likely see President Barack Obama’s announcement last week that he supports gay marriage as further reason to vote for him. After all, a “Jewish values” poll released last month by the Public Religion Research Institute found 81 percent support the right of same-sex couples to marry.

In the wake of the shocking arrest last week of a yeshiva teacher and youth worker for possession of child pornography, attention is turning to how day school — and indeed, all — teachers are vetted, and how to balance the need to ensure children’s safety with legal concerns about discrimination and privacy.

Does President Barack Obama have his Jewish mojo back?

Did the rightward tilt of the Republican presidential primaries, where culture war issues surged to the top of the GOP agenda, scare off potential Jewish voters?

Or is Election Day simply too far in the future for a poll in April to carry much significance?

Efforts are underway in Israel to convince Israeli President Shimon Peres to decline the Presidential Medal of Freedom Award in June unless President Barack Obama changes his mind and grants clemency to Jonathan Pollard more than 26 years after he was convicted of spying for Israel.

Peres on April 9 sent Obama a personal request asking that he release Pollard on humanitarian grounds. But on Tuesday, Matt Lehrich, a White House spokesman, said in an e-mail to The Jewish Week:  “The administration’s position has not changed.”