Nov. 5, 1954
A Prayerbook in Braille
A little-known organization — the Jewish Braille Institute of America — has just announced the consummation of a project of tremendous proportions and of inestimable value to sightless Jews eager to worship in the tradition of their faith. The Institute has prepared to publish the first Jewish prayerbook ever printed in Hebrew and English Braille.
The project has been made possible through funds contributed by the affiliated sisterhoods of the National Women’s arm of Conservative Judaism
The Braille volumes … will be presented as a gift to each Jewish blind person requesting them from the Institute at 101 West 55th St., New York.
Selections for the books were made by a committee of rabbis designated by the Prayer Book Commission of the Rabbinical Assembly, the national organization of the Conservative rabbinate.
There are now an estimated 12,000 Jewish blind in the United States eligible for the services of the Institute, and its services also are provided for the Jewish blind in other parts of the world.
It is interesting to note that an international Hebrew Braille code was developed four years ago when the Institute issued a Braille edition of the Hebrew Scriptures. A simplified Hebrew Braille alphabet has been worked out for publication of the prayer book to enable the blind to learn to read the Hebrew more readily.
Nov. 5, 2004
Bush gets 24 percent of Jewish vote— less than GOP hoped for
Republican hopes for a big Jewish surge in this year’s presidential contest were dashed on Tuesday, Nov. 2, when President George W. Bush, in his successful bid for a second term, claimed only about 24 percent of the Jewish vote nationally, according to exit polls published by major news outlets.
That was 5 points above his weak 2000 showing, and it came after an extensive and expensive campaign by Jewish Republican groups and a big pro-Bush turnout by the Orthodox community, which strongly approves of the president’s Mideast policies.
The Republican Jewish Coalition, however, viewed the 24 percent tally as a victory, and part of a “clear and irrefutable” trend of Jewish voters turning Republican since 1992. In the last four presidential elections, the organization noted, Jewish voters have awarded the Republican candidate 11, 16, 19, and now 24 percent of their votes.
What’s more, according to the RJC, 32 percent of Jews ages 18 to 29 cast their ballots for Bush, while the “traditional Jewish Democratic base, senior citizens, is shrinking in numbers.”
Democratic Jewish organizations, not surprisingly, wrote off the RJC’s claims as grandstanding.
“Last time, we had the first Jewish candidate on a national ticket and this time there’s no statistical movement?” asked Ira Forman, executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council.
He noted that 22 percent of the Jewish vote for Bush received in some exit polls is within the margin of error of the 19 percent he garnered in 2000 — and this time, there was no Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) to draw Jewish votes.
“It’s embarrassing. It’s like the boy who cried wolf.”
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