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09/03/2008
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In Alaska, Much Warmth, Some Chill

Rabbi Yosef Greenberg, founder of the Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska, speaks at a recent ceremony in Gov. Palin’s office. Palin (seated at right) signed a resolution at the event honoring Israel’s 60th anniversary.

by Doug Chandler
Special To The Jewish Week

Larry Tallman, an Alaska businessman who lives only nine miles from Sarah Palin’s hometown of Wasilla, recalls the first time he met the governor — a moment he calls not only surprising but “illuminating.”

The meeting took place eight years ago at the groundbreaking of a small, now-defunct Conservative synagogue in Wasilla, where Palin was mayor at the time. Members of the congregation had placed an ad in a local newspaper inviting residents to attend the event, Tallman said, “and to my surprise, the mayor showed up with her daughter, Piper,” then only a few weeks old.

“She thanked us for doing what we were doing,” said Tallman, a resident of Alaska’s Mat-Su Valley, which includes both Wasilla and his own town of Palmer. She

Tallman was one of a dozen or so Jewish Alaskans interviewed by phone for reactions to Palin being named as Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential running mate.

A Canadian citizen, Tallman can’t vote in American elections or take an active role in the country’s politics. But during a week in which Americans tried to get a handle on Alaska’s governor, now in the spotlight, his comments reflected the warm ties between Palin, 44, and the state’s Jewish community.   

In Anchorage, home to about half of the state’s estimated 6,000 Jews, the city’s two pulpit rabbis are both fond of the governor. Rabbi Yosef Greenberg, founder of the Lubavitch Jewish Center of Alaska, said Palin has attended several Jewish cultural galas he helped to organize. And in the two years since she became governor, Palin has appeared twice at the city’s Reform synagogue, Beth Sholom — once for Rabbi Michael Oblath’s installation last October, and to sign legislation named for two past presidents of the congregation, a married couple killed in a traffic accident in 2002. (The legislation outlaws watching DVDs and text-messaging while driving.)

David Gottstein, the state’s chairman for the America Israel Public Affairs Committee, said Palin has also demonstrated an admiration for Israel and, at one point last spring, was preparing to visit the Jewish state. The visit would have been sponsored by the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Gottstein said, but had to be cancelled because of a political controversy unrelated to the trip.

Still, there are Jewish residents who, when considering Palin as a possible vice president, are troubled by her lack of experience in foreign affairs. Others object to her strongly conservative views on social issues, such as abortion rights, stem-cell research and the teaching of creationism in public schools.

In addition, there’s disagreement among Alaskan Jews over the significance of Palin’s appearance at a Pat Buchanan rally, where she wore a button favoring his presidential campaign. The rally took place eight years ago in Wasilla while she was still mayor.

“Personally, I like her,” said Ethan Berkowitz, a former minority leader in the Alaska House of Representatives and a Democratic candidate for the state’s single seat in the U.S. House.

But “she has absolutely no foreign policy experience, and I’d be scared of her getting any place near a Mideast negotiation,” especially with her Evangelical background. Berkowitz added that he has no idea what her views might be on the Middle East.

Those hesitations are shared by Alaskan Rep. Jay Ramras, a Republican from Fairbanks and one of the five Jewish members in his chamber.

“She’s certainly warm toward the Jewish community, and she certainly goes to [Chabad’s annual] Chanukah celebration,” said Ramras, who, though a Republican, is a political opponent of the governor. “I’m delighted. But how you extrapolate that to international geopolitics, I have no idea.”

An ideological conservative, Ramras is planning to vote this November for McCain and Palin. But he’ll do so while hoping that, “God willing, McCain stays healthy during the four years of his presidency and, God willing, she grows in her knowledge of foreign affairs.”
The governor’s supporters dismiss that criticism, however, saying they believe Palin will emerge a strong supporter of Israel.

Her interest in Alaska’s Jewish community, as small as it is, “convinces me that she’ll get to know the global Jewish community,” said Terry Gorlick, a businessman in Anchorage who calls himself “a strong Republican.” Gorlick became involved in Palin’s gubernatorial campaign after talking with her at a Jewish gala about her views on the Jewish community.

“She said she knew about Jewish customs and was eager to learn more,” he said.

But that’s not the view of another Alaska resident who knows the Palin family. The resident, who asked to remain anonymous, said she likes a number of things “about Sarah,” including her support for education in the state. The governor is also “a quick study” and “very charming,” said this resident, a teacher active in Democratic politics.

But Palin is “limited” and “very naïve” when it comes to knowing about world events, the resident said, alluding to reports that, until last year, she lacked a U.S. passport. While Gorlick believes that Palin’s fundamental values “are aligned with our fundamental values,” this teacher believes quite the opposite, saying she believes Jewish values involve “caring about the here and now.” That would include working for such goals as civil rights, health care and Israel’s safety, the teacher said.

That difference in views is indicative of the politics of Alaska’s Jewish community, which has been described as more liberal than the rest of the state but more conservative than Jews elsewhere in the country. Rabbi Oblath, a native of California, said he’s noticed a “strong streak” among his congregants, as well as other Alaskans, of independent views and support for individual rights.

Regarding the Buchanan rally, Palin’s supporters noted that she wrote a letter the next day to the Anchorage Daily News saying her appearance was in no way an endorsement of the arch-conservative candidate, who “publicly espouses” anti-Semitic views, according to the Anti-Defamation League. She claimed, instead, that she was simply welcoming Buchanan to Wasilla, as she would any other presidential candidate.

That drew a strong retort from Bob Weinstein, the mayor of Ketchikan, Alaska, and a Democrat, who said that Buchanan came to his town, too, but “I didn’t come out wearing a Buchanan button to welcome him. ... If David Duke had come, would she have worn a David Duke button welcoming him?”

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