Choice for some Jews: Religion or caucuses

By Abigail Goldman

Thursday, Jan. 17, 2008 | 2 a.m.

And so they said, “Let there be a caucus.”

While Vegas unions duke it out over where the caucuses can be held, a second debate one of wringing hands rather than lawsuits has emerged over when they should be held.

Nevada’s Saturday morning caucuses will automatically exclude a certain portion of the valley’s Jews, Orthodox and Conservative believers who observe their sixth-day Sabbath by not working, or driving, or voting, for that matter.

The state political parties say their hands are tied, and it’s true. Las Vegas Jews get that. As Rabbi Felipe Goodman of Temple Beth Shalom put it: “Trying to move a caucus is like trying to move a brick wall. Impossible.” Only, impossibility doesn’t ease their upset.

Perhaps Goodman and his fellow faithful can take comfort in their company. Of the 14 other states that hold only caucuses for presidential nominations, three have forums that also fall on a Saturday: Nebraska, Washington and Wyoming. Of the 36 states that hold only primaries for presidential nominations, one has them on a Saturday: South Carolina.

Of course Nevada’s Jewish population in 2006 estimated at more than 70,000 exceeds the combined estimated Jewish populations of the other Saturday states by about 8,000 people. And other population estimates, though not confirmed, suggest that difference could be closer to 18,000.

It’s a problem of godly proportion. One that, like most matters of religion, has no easy solution. No solution at all, really. Just an angry leap of faith, because crossed fingers are the closest some will come to helping a caucus candidate win.

Rabbi Yitzchak Wyne, of temple Young Israel-Aish Las Vegas, has fielded a number of calls from his constituents, who are, by and large, Republican. They want him to do something, though they know he can’t, and are angry at themselves for not getting angrier earlier.

“The United States of America is the greatest country for the Jews ever,” he said. “And at the same time, this issue is icky.”

The caucuses, an opportunity for voters to express their preference for a presidential candidate, will begin at 9 a.m. for Republicans and 11:30 a.m. for Democrats at locations throughout the valley and should last at least an hour. This also poses a problem for Seventh-day Adventists, who observe a Saturday Sabbath but are free to work and to drive. The scheduling would mean missing morning services, not violating any doctrine, but a Seventh-day Adventist pastor contacted by the Sun said his congregants weren’t planning to caucus anyway.

Asked about the subject, Zachary Moyle, executive director of the Nevada Republican Party, said what most do: No day is perfect.

“There is not any day of the week where we are not going to disenfranchise someone,” he said. “We held it on a day we felt we could best maximize turnout.”

It’s impossible to know how many Jews will be barred from participating in the caucuses, though the number certainly reaches into the thousands, Wyne said. There are several Orthodox synagogues in Vegas, and thousands of Jews of other branches who also observe a strict Sabbath.

Presumably, they were in the same predicament in 2004, when Nevada’s Democrats also held Saturday presidential caucuses. Republicans held theirs on a Tuesday, though Bush’s nomination was unchallenged. Calls to the state Democratic Party were not returned Tuesday morning.

So, in the spirit of the political season, some Jews are organizing, lobbying the more relaxed of their faith to attend the caucuses at any cost. Members of the Reconstructionist Valley Outreach Synagogue are “mobilizing those who are able to go out,” Rabbi Yocheved Mintz said, so that “those who can will be there.”