Iowa on Monday began enforcing a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, Reuters reports. The state has become the 22nd in the nation to implement broad restrictions on terminating pregnancies since the US Supreme Court overturned federal abortion rights in 2022.

The legislation prohibits abortions before many women are even aware of their pregnancies, while allowing exceptions for cases involving rape, medical emergencies, and fatal fetal anomalies. The enforcement follows a ruling by Iowa's state Supreme Court last month against a challenge by Planned Parenthood to halt the law.

The law, passed during a special legislative session in 2023, came after the state Supreme Court failed to reinstate a separate 2018 abortion ban. Iowa's Republican-majority legislature pushed through the new restrictions, rejecting efforts by Democrats to broaden the law's exceptions, including a proposal to permit abortions for pregnant children aged 12 or younger.

"This law represents a significant shift in Iowa's approach to reproductive rights," said Lyz Lenz, co-chair of the Iowa Abortion Access Fund. Vice President Kamala Harris wrote on X, "This morning, more than 1.5 million women in Iowa woke up with fewer rights than they had last night because of another Trump abortion ban." She vowed to stop the bans in November if she were to win the presidential election.

This morning, more than 1.5 million women in Iowa woke up with fewer rights than they had last night because of another Trump Abortion Ban.

In November, we will stop Trump's extreme abortion bans at the ballot box. pic.twitter.com/nE5HOT0avN

— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 29, 2024

Maggie DeWitte, executive director of the Iowa-based organization Pulse Life Advocates, which opposes abortion, said, "We believe this law will protect the sanctity of life." DeWitte added that her group would continue to support pregnant women through various outreach programs.

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For the Trump camp, this was significant. The Des Moines Register poll is considered one of the most reliable in Iowa, which many look to during the primaries as well as later on, to get an idea of the political atmosphere in the state. Its pollsters, in contrast to the others in the state, predicted that Trump would win the 2016 election by seven points. And they were right: Trump ended up winning the Hawkeye State by nine points.

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Trump has shot up in this most recent poll and now leads his Democratic opponent Joe Biden 48% to 41%. This lead is beyond that of a margin of error, which stands at 3.4 points. Moreover, Trump's spike in the polls comes as Joni Ernst, the Republican senator from Iowa, is also pulling ahead of her Democratic rival Theresa Greenfield, now leading her by four points. In addition to the encouraging news from Iowa, Trump continues to maintain a statistical tie with Biden according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll, which also shows Biden's lead shrinking in Pennsylvania.

The Des Moines Register poll is an anomaly in the state, where other polls point to a tie between the two candidates and is a reflection of independent voters deciding to lean right and cast their ballot for the president. And if they're doing that in Iowa, they may do the same in other Midwestern states – just as they did in 2016, when they handed Trump a victory at the very last minute.

This is the scenario that Biden dreads and Trump is betting on.  The Democratic candidate can take solace in knowing there are far fewer undecided voters this time around and that support is greater for him than it was for Hillary Clinton in 2016 in the Midwest, as well as nationally, although the latter is irrelevant to the US election system.) The bottom line is that anything can happen, and maybe Trump is gaining momentum at precisely the right time, while Biden, on the other hand, is losing steam.

Over the weekend, the Trump campaigned announced it would cancel plans to hold an Election Day party on Tuesday night at the Trump International Hotel in Washington, with the president instead likely to take in the results from the White House. While the move was immediately interpreted by the city's Democrats as a sign that Trump was feeling down and out, it seems they forgot the party would have violated the restrictions in place on mass gatherings due to the coronavirus outbreak. Trump was also forced to cancel plans in Nevada last week when that state's Democratic governor refused to allow them to hold a mass rally, leading the president's team to hold one of the rallies on the Arizona border instead.

Trump is optimistic – despite all the restrictions, despite all their attempts to sabotage him, and despite the fact that people are grasping onto poll averages that are not in his favor. Yes, Trump is optimistic, some would even say very optimistic. The polls point to Biden emerging as the victor, but four years ago, they pointed to Clinton. Truth be told, Trump is in a relatively good place. According to one calculation, he is poised to garner 280 electoral votes and win the race, and that's even if he unable to win in Michigan and Wisconsin, which he won with a razor-thin margin in 2016, this time around. Trump will win 280 electoral votes as long as he succeeds in winning in the rest of the states he won in 2016, chief among them Pennsylvania and Florida. The polls indicate this scenario is most definitely possible since in some of these states, he and Biden are in a statistical tie.

Biden stays close to home

If the Independents continue to skew in his favor, and if the Republicans continue to show up for their party, given the passion out in the field, we could in fact see a victory with 280 electorates. One mustn't forget that although Biden is seen as the harbinger of change in many states, in Pennsylvania and in the Midwest, he is seen mainly as the man who will bring about the eradication of the fracking and coal mining industries, and in the minds of independent voters, that is to his major detriment.

All thisת along with the fact that Trump is still seen as better suited to managing the economy once a vaccine for the coronavirus is found, mean Trump is well situated to garner 270 electorates, if not more, and he is determined to use the final days in the lead up to the election to create optimistic momentum.

The president has been holding rally after rally where he assures Americans that the country's golden days still lie ahead while repeatedly warning that Biden will drag America into "endless foreign wars." At every rally, by the way, the crowd goes wild whenever he mentions the pro-Israel steps he has taken, including moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem and recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. But Trump main focus at the rallies is on warning voters that Biden will destroy their industries. In Michigan, he told attendees, "A vote for Biden is a vote to extinguish, demolish, and wipe out Michigan's auto industry" while noting he had brought in factories and prevented others from leaving the state. In Pennsylvania and the rest of the Midwest, the president warned Biden would "destroy" the oil industry.

On Sunday, the second to last day before the election, Trump had rallies planned in no fewer than five states: Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. The last event, in Florida, where he is also a resident, is expected to kick off at 11:30 p.m. local time. Biden, in contrast, has decided to stay in Pennsylvania, just a stone's throw from his home state of Delaware, for the entire day.

Over 90 million US citizens have already cast their vote, meaning almost half of all registered voters in all 50 states and some two-thirds of the total number of ballots cast in 2016. Most states have already reported record-breaking turnout in the early voting stage. Naturally, the million-dollar question that must be asked is: Who does this benefit? In the coronavirus era, early voting models are no longer relevant, and because early voting is so widespread, no pollster is willing to say who they believe has gained from the phenomenon outright.

At his drive-in rallies, Biden draws a few hundred, and sometimes only a few dozen, cars. Trump draws tens of thousands of people. I have been to his rallies. The people love him. They know he is not responsible for the coronavirus. They know he did good things for the economy, they know his heart is in the right place, and most importantly, they know that while he may talk and tweet, he also takes action.

And so Trump carries on with his crazy process, as one man entering the fray and taking on everyone on his own. As far as the atmosphere on the street is concerned, and the number of Trump masks that abound regardless of Halloween, Trump has won. And that is true even in the country's Democratic capital.

At the airport in Washington on Sunday, two passengers stood next to me in line to rent a car; one a lawyer, the other working for an insurance agency, both proudly donning Trump face masks.

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"He's good for the economy, and he's good for America," John, the lawyer from New York, not exactly the reddest of states, tells me. "I'm convinced he's going to win because ultimately, you want a president that will bring the receipts," he says.

"Biden is the worst candidate the Democrats could have offered, while Trump is Trump. I just hope that after the election, the Democrats will be able to lose with dignity. America can't go on with this division for long," he said, summing up what many have said about Biden. They're not turned off by him like they were with Clinton, but they don't hold him in high regard either. Trump, on the other hand, is appreciated, on both sides of the aisle.

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All the hotels are at full capacity. In freezing Iowa, the Democratic race to the White House will begin on Monday. It is a small state with a small population, and isn't demographically representative of the United States (it's 91% white). Therefore, it only has a tiny number of Electoral College votes in the general election. But tradition is tradition, and this is where the election race kicks off. There are no voting stations, rather caucuses.

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Because US President Donald Trump is running for a second term, the Republican primary is merely a matter of protocol, as his nomination is assured. On the Democratic side, however, there is all-out war. And this is the war before the real one takes place, which will very much resemble the acerbic melee between Trump and Hillary Clinton in 2016, if not worse.

This fight will be over the face and character of American society over the coming decade, and the Democrats will need to do the impossible: defeat a sitting president during a period of record economic growth, while they themselves are profoundly splintered.

Trump didn't wait until Monday. On Thursday, after bringing out thousands of supporters to a rally in predominantly Democratic New Jersey, he decided to steal the show from the Democrats by holding a gigantic rally in Iowa. On the surface, he achieved his goal: There were no photos of any Democratic candidates on the front page of the Des Moines Register; only a photo of the president disembarking his plane and a headline about the promises he's made to the small state. In general, it appears the Democrats shot themselves in the foot when they vacillated at the outset of his impeachment trial, which forced the four senators competing in the primary (Bernie Sanders, Amy Klobuchar, Michael Bennet and Elizabeth Warren) to be in Washington and miss the crucial moments of the race.

On Friday, the impeachment trial reached a decisive moment: The Democrats failed in their attempt to pass a motion that would have allowed them to summon witnesses, among them former National Security Adviser John Bolton, whose book contained leaks with incriminating evidence, allegedly, about Trump's involvement in "Ukraine-Gate." The significance of this failure: The verdict in the Trump trial will be issued in the coming days, likely on Wednesday. Trump is expected to win an acquittal because Republicans hold the majority in the Senate.

In the meantime, Trump chose to hold his rally on the campus of Drake University. As usual at a Trump rally, the crowd comes for a happening. And Trump, much like the 2016 election, doesn't plan on giving any gifts. "We are going to beat the radical socialist Democrats," he vowed at the rally.

The Democrats' obsession with impeaching Trump in the Senate is a tad bewildering. Isn't this an election year?

'They don't trust themselves'

"Maybe they don't trust themselves," Lara, a political science student at Iowa University, tells me. "The craziness around the president's impeachment shows a lack of self-confidence on their part," she says. From her perspective, Trump will be the next president, although she is on the Democratic side of the state. Iowa has six Electoral College votes, but is considered a swing state. Twice it gave its Electoral votes to Barak Obama, but in 2016 Obama's "heir," Hillary Clinton, suffered a landslide there and Trump took those votes.

Victory in Iowa breathes life into a candidate's campaign race and gives them the spotlight, and sometimes makes the difference between losing altitude and soaring to the White House. John Kerry was thrown a life preserver when out of nowhere he won Iowa, and it gave him the momentum he needed to continue his campaign run, until finally winning the nomination.

And now, the Democratic candidates are choosing to focus on Trump instead of on themselves. Joe Biden mentioned the president every 17 seconds (64 times in 19 minutes) at his campaign rally. Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, flew here in Trump's wake. He simply jumped from station to station that Trump won. In the polls themselves, Sanders is usually in the lead. "Who takes polls seriously these days in America?" says Jason, the owner of a small restaurant where I'm drinking my morning coffee. "I see the poll and read it backward." Jason, too, doesn't understand what they want from Trump. "He's good for business."

Some 180 kilometers (112 miles) from the capital Des Moines, former Vice President Joe Biden, who wants to be the next president, spoke at a school gymnasium in Waukee. The gym wasn't very big, thank goodness. No more than 200 supporters showed up to listen to him. In comparison to Trump, this is a drop in the ocean. But Biden didn't stop chastising the president on a personal basis. His crowd wasn't overly enthused. Nor was he. When we met, he projected a sense of calm. Biden takes my cell phone, isn't scared off by the Hebrew on the device, and insists on finding the camera app on his own – he snaps a selfie of us. "I'm going to work hard – and win," he declares. I asked him how so many supporters attend Trump rallies, despite everything he says about him. I didn't get an answer, but there's no question that out of all the Democratic candidates he seems the sanest.

Kerry: 'The deal of the century isn't simple'

Meanwhile, I asked John Kerry, who was the Democratic candidate in 2004, about the deal of the century: "It's not simple; I saw the Palestinians' reaction." And as for the large crowd at the Trump rally? "Half this country supports him and I'd like to explain to them why they're wrong, but I respect them," he said.

Without a doubt, the elections in America are the best show in town, but something is subdued this time. Is it the impeachment trial, or the fact that the 2016 election was so tumultuous, or simply that the Republicans now control the spotlight because of one man, and he already has the nomination? As various sites noted in 2019, there are several types of voters who want Trump to remain president until 2025. Some want him because of the economy, others will vote for him because of his conservative values, and others are simply charmed by the fact that he's willing to do things that others aren't. He's a project manager who brings results, such as the barrier on the Mexican border, and they love giving him a chance.

And as Trump himself made clear in Iowa on Thursday: "I don't plan on losing this state. I don't plan on losing any state." And at least based on the images from his rallies, it's safe to assume his voters from 2016 will come out and vote again. The images show that the arena where he held his rally was packed to the brim (7,000 seats) – as Trump has accustomed us to.

Boaz Bismuth is editor-in-chief of Israel Hayom

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Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap and other US secretaries of state are participating in the trip with the American Jewish Committee's Project Interchange.

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They are participating in a weeklong seminar that organizers said is designed to "enhance US-Israel relations at the vital state level."

The National Association of Secretaries of State said it is the first time it has sent a delegation to Israel to work with Project Interchange.

Association president Paul Pate, who is Iowa's secretary of state, said his colleagues are "uniquely on the forefront of today's most complex issues, including election cybersecurity" and will benefit from this week's seminar.

The delegation will also visit Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Jerusalem, as well as meet with Palestinian leaders in Ramallah.

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The remarks highlight a nuanced but significant distinction between the Democratic presidential contenders. Biden and Sanders support a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians, and both men have criticized political leaders on each side of the long-standing conflict. But Biden's take, offered during a question-and-answer session with Iowa voters, hewed a more traditional US establishment line by reaffirming a financial commitment to Israel regardless of its actions toward Palestinians.

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The former vice president, cast Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as "counterproductive" and accused Palestinian leaders of "fomenting" the conflict and "baiting everyone who is Jewish," while suggesting that some on the US political Left give the Palestinian Authority "a pass" when criticizing Israeli leadership.

"In terms of Bernie and others who talk about dealing with Zionism, I strongly support Israel as an independent Jewish state," Biden said in rural northeastern Iowa. He added, "The idea that I'd withdraw military aid, as others have suggested, from Israel, is bizarre. I would not do that. It's like saying to France, 'Because you don't agree with us, we're going to kick you out of NATO."

Sanders, a Vermont senator, elevated the matter in late October when he said the US should "leverage" its billions of dollars in annual Israeli aid. "My solution is to say to Israel: 'You get $3.8 billion every year. If you want military aid, you're going to have to fundamentally change your relationship to the people of Gaza.' In fact, I think it is fair to say that some of that should go right now into humanitarian aid."

Netanyahu said Thursday, despite warnings from the International Criminal Court, that Israel has the "full right" to annex the Jordan Valley altogether if it chooses, and said he discussed annexation this week in a meeting with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The Palestinians seek the entire West Bank as the heartland of their hoped-for state. The Jordan Valley comprises about a quarter of the West Bank and is one of the few open areas that could be redeveloped by the Palestinians. Israel counters that the area is vital to its security. President Donald Trump's administration aligns closely with Netanyahu, already recognizing Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights. Democrats, especially in the party's progressive flank, have become increasingly critical of Netanyahu and the long-standing US alliance with the Jerusalem government.

Biden on Saturday called the notion of annexing the West Bank as "a serious mistake, a fundamental mistake," but he had even harsher words for the Palestinian Authority, seemingly blaming them for a failure to reach new peace accords "and get 98% of what they wanted" when former President Barack Obama was in office with Biden as his vice president.

"They continued to insist on baiting everyone who is Jewish, saying they would not sign a deal with a Jewish state, will not recognize one even if we have an independent nation," Biden said.

He said that, as president, he'd continue to push Israel to accept a Palestinian state, but added that he's "tired of everybody giving the Palestinian Authority a pass ... as if they're not continuing to foment all of this."

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The Jewish community in Iowa – approximately 5,450, or less than 1% of the state's population, with most of them in Des Moines – has been anything but absent from the action (there are even campaign kippahs at the state fair).

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Most of Iowa's Jewish community is "overwhelmingly" Democratic, observed Drake University political-science professor Dennis Goldford.

"Although small, we are a disproportionate share of the voter turnout; most of us participate in the political process, voting or volunteering for candidates or supporting them in other capacities. The community is strong," said David Adelman, a Democratic political consultant for state and federal clients, a former president of the Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines and currently the president of the Federation's foundation, which supports Jewish causes in the community, including social and senior services, and the State of Israel.

Harlan "Bud" Hockenberg, a veteran Republican operative and leader in the Iowan Jewish community, said that he's lived his whole life as "a minority within a minority."

Regarding the Jewish community's involvement in the Iowa Caucus, "I don't think it's unique to the Greater Des Moines or Greater Iowa community. I think Iowans generally take their role as first in the nation's caucuses very seriously," said Adelman, who is also chairman of the Iowa division of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and serves on AIPAC's national council. "I don't think that's any different with the Jewish community in Iowa."

He remarked that Iowa's residents have the opportunity to meet with the candidates and noted that, leading up to the Feb. 3 caucus, the Jewish community will be "taking a keen interest in the process – meeting with these candidates, asking them questions and even hosting them for roundtables, living-room townhalls or perhaps even for dinner, some of whom may even be [at] High Holiday services."

Adelman added, "We have a great opportunity. I think sometimes Iowans are spoiled in the sense that we have almost day-to-day interactions with these candidates and definitely their staff."

In past caucuses, the Iowa Jewish community has offered a venue to talk to the Jewish community. In 2015, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) (who is again running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination), former tech executive Carly Fiorina, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) and other candidates were at Jewish Federation forums.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Des Moines declined an interview request, but sent JNS a statement by its communications relations director Mark Finkelstein: "Like Jewish community members nationwide, Jewish community members in Des Moines tend to be vitally concerned with their political party at one level or another, and are typically not shy about expressing their opinions, certainly not to me as community relations director for the Federation."

"If there's anything the Federation stands for, however, is that we cannot let political divisiveness within the Jewish community stand in the way of the Federation attaining its mission – that of providing the social and educational services, the community-building services and programming which, in cooperation with our congregations enable our families to lead enriching Jewish lives here in Central Iowa," added Finkelstein.

Iowans are known to take the caucus "very seriously," from working or volunteering on campaigns to just bringing "in baked goods to feed the kids and help them" to providing lodging for campaign staff and volunteers, according to Will Rogers, a former secretary at the Jewish Federation and a former executive director of the Polk County Republican Party.

Truth be told, issues pertinent to the Democrats in Iowa's Jewish community are no different than other groups: health care, the economy, abortion, and immigration.

"If you get together with a bunch of Jewish citizens of Des Moines, talk will go to caucuses with the usual issues of whether, in fact, there's a kind of liberal anti-Semitism or whether they find the president so appalling from their standpoint that they could never vote for him," said Goldford. "Typical kinds of discussions and disagreements."

Regardless, according to Goldford, "one point of view is that the community here is too small to let divisions and differences of opinion override the common concerns [of] the Jewish community."

As a Republican, Hockenberg said his "policy has always been that one friend can [have a] different policy, but that should never affect personal relationships."

Meanwhile, the topic of Israel seems to be secondary compared to the kitchen-table issues.

Goldford cited the small Jewish population in the state in that they "don't feel embattled," though there is concern about the anti-Israel BDS movement.

Adelman said that it's not just Israel, but foreign policy overall that hasn't been front and center because "there's such a weight upon the domestic agenda that people are focused on," such as health care, "which affects their pocketbook the most."

Nonetheless, he said, "as the process goes on, the Jewish community will identify candidates that speak to them on issues relating to the Middle East."

On the Republican side, said Rogers, "Israel tends to be a very important issue – our strategic relationship with Israel and making sure that we have good, sound foreign policy regarding Israel and the Middle East. Defense is important there as well."

He added that the Jewish Democrats in the state overall support the Jewish state, though some are "a little more critical of Israel … maybe even critical of the current [Benjamin] Netanyahu administration, and that they're looking to potentially find a different policy, a path to move forward."

Hockenberg, who has been involved in Iowa politics since 1980, said that the minor focus on Israel on the Jewish Democratic side in Iowa is "very clearly a reflection of the American political scene."

"The Democratic Jewish community in America is opposed to Bibi Netanyahu as the prime minister because he's more Center-Right rather than Left. And that goes back to the Obama relationship with Bibi, which was more of a hands-off," he continued. "And I think that has overlapped into the American Democratic Jewish community attitude toward Israel, and that reduces their support for Israel. They are concerned about certain issues in Israel, which are domestic, but they feel they're entitled to have some comment and influence."

Along with AIPAC, pro-Israel organizations such as Christians United for Israel and Iowans Supporting Israel operate in the Hawkeye State.

Which candidates the Jewish community has been supporting remains to be seen.

Adelman noted that "multiple candidates or their staffs have reached out wanting to speak about the US-Israel relationship. Many of these candidates are careful not to be baited by the far-left anti-Israel activists, knowing that the majority of Democratic voters are still overly supportive of a strong US-Israel relationship."

Anti-Semitism "does not occur that often" in Iowa, according to Goldford. Rogers said that he doesn't experience daily anti-Semitic incidents, though he knows people who have encountered such situations.

"But for the most part, I think it's that people don't encounter very often so that may not seem as of an important issue to be discussing," said Rogers. "It's what you see and do every day and experience every day that becomes the most important things to you."

'We're a purple congregation'

In Des Moines are three congregations: Tifereth Israel (Conservative), Temple B'nai Jeshurun (Reform) and Lubavitch of Iowa (Orthodox). In 2016, the Orthodox synagogue, Beth El Jacob, closed and is now partnered with Chabad.

Temple B'nai Jeshurun, founded in 1873 as Des Moines's first Jewish congregation, is Iowa's largest and is led by Rabbi David Kaufman, who has been in Des Moines for 16 years, towing a moderate line politically in a time of immense polarization.

"We're one of the most politically active congregations as far as membership goes," said the rabbi of the 300-member-unit synagogue, some of whom belong to the other congregations in the area, including Chabad.

"Our members are involved in a lot of different things. That generally means that on a lot of things we have to maintain neutrality, especially when we're dealing with internal party politics like primaries, so we tend to advocate for issues and take more moderate lines on issues," he continued. "When we do, we try to seek something that's going to be supported by both Republicans and Democrats that might actually get passed somewhere."

However, Kaufman noted that he knows "a lot of members who are much further on the progressive side or are much further on the Right than the congregation is," adding that most members are on the Left, though not as further on that end on the spectrum compared to Reform congregations on the East and West coasts.

He cited the significant number of intermarried couples in his congregation being a factor for B'nai Jeshurun's moderation politically and ideologically.

"If you have a congregation in which there's very little interfaith marriage, you're going to have a very progressive congregation," he said. "But the second people start marrying in large numbers with people in the overall population, you're going to bring in people who are less progressive because virtually everyone else is less progressive."

Kaufman said that his members are involved in political causes such as abortion rights, where some associate with Planned Parenthood and National Abortion Rights Action League, better known as NARAL. There are also members who are involved in groups related to the environment, guns, immigration, and health care.

"I do a lot of Israel advocacy; people leave that largely to me," he said. "But we have a few others in the congregation who do that as well."

Kaufman noted that leading up to the caucus, his congregation "tends to get very divided, and we have a lot of conversations going on, mostly online. It's not like they happen at services or they happen in different places."

The rabbi cited that he's connected on Facebook with most of his members, so he sees the intensity surrounding political discussions on the platform, "mostly between the Democratic Socialists and the rest of the Democrats." The Republican members don't engage because "the argument on the Democratic side oftentimes is pretty heated and nasty, and they just want to stay out of it."

One example was the rivalry in 2016 between supporters of former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.)

This year's rivalry among Democrats, according to Kaufman, is between Democrats who want to pick the candidate that can best beat the president and those who want a candidate that advocates for particular issues, like single-payer health care.

"We're a purple congregation," he said, referring to the color in American political lingo that is for states that are moderate or go back and forth between parties in elections.

"I'm a well-known moderate, so I get attacked oftentimes from both sides," said Kaufman, a self-described independent who added that he does sermons on political matters (not advocating for candidates), and that he has worked with and attends events hosted by both Republicans and Democrats.

Sermons include subjects such as mindfulness and sinat hinam (Hebrew for "baseless hatred"), of which there is no shortage in today's political discourse with attacking not only policies but the people behind and advocating for them.

Kaufman was the only Reform rabbi to attend the first of two White House Hanukkah parties in December 2017.

Nonetheless, the rabbi, who teaches a huge monthly class on current events and foreign policy at Drake University in Des Moines, acknowledged that as a moderate "sometimes it's more difficult to engage" in a political discussion.

He remarked that "It's been much easier to engage in that discussion in year's past than it is now in our highly partisan, political environment," and that "anything that smacks of trying to promote understanding of Republican politicians results in attacks from the left oftentimes and the reverse is true."

"When I try to point out that maybe there's some validity to positions that are coming from the political left, I end up getting the same kind of feedback from other people," noted Kaufman. "I try to present information and let people make their own decisions as much as possible, and I try to promote the basic Jewish ideals for things as far as what our texts actually say."

In terms of the reception he gets from his congregation, Kaufman said, "I probably open people's eyes to possibilities that they didn't really see. They're willing to listen to me because they know that I am not super highly partisan," while at the same time receiving pushback from those who are "super highly partisan."

He added that most of his congregants "are happy that we don't take a political line."

'There are people who want to take their buttons off and be a Jew'

During caucus season, a lot of young people, including campaign workers, contribute to what Kaufman labeled "a charged energy."

"You either have people who are really interested in coming to services because they believe that their Judaism connects to their politics and then they kind of bring their politics with them," he said. "And then you have people who come to services because they want to get away from politics for an hour or a couple hours. There are people who want to take their buttons off and be a Jew at services."

Kaufman mentioned his congregants are involved in the caucus process – from listening to candidates at the soapbox at the Iowa State Fair and around the state.

When both Republicans and Democrats have multiple candidates running, like in 2016, some of the rabbi's congregants, regardless of their partisan affiliation, will even listen to candidates from both sides of the aisle.

"People in Iowa generally, if you're involved, you tend to act like you're at the caucuses all the time. Which means that you are analyzing all the candidates. You are trying to understand all of their positions," he said. "You're trying to rank your candidates. … You have an order of candidates you'll support."

Kaufman mentioned Friday night dinners at his synagogue, where he goes from table to table and is wowed by "the depth of knowledge that a lot of people will have."

"They'll quote policies to you from their campaign pages," he said. "People take it seriously here."

The rabbi stated that the dinners will resume next month.

"People like interacting with the different political groups," said Kaufman, adding that there's an invitation for the candidates to speak at the synagogue with some events being held at Tifereth Israel or the Jewish Federation.

Nonetheless, the rabbi said that B'nai Jeshurun provides a Shabbat environment that allows people who want to get away from the political madness, with such discussions happening at the tables at the dinners, some of them intensely political.

Kaufman said that it's not uncommon for some to get up from one table and go to another.

"There are people who will complain about it and say, 'I just wanted to get away and I can't.' And other people will say, 'Yeah, but that's what's going on right now.' "

'I just let the pastrami talk for itself'

Lubavitch of Iowa Rabbi Yossi Jacobson runs a Chabad center and Maccabee's Kosher Deli, serving a slice (or more) of kosher heaven along with lifelong wisdom, especially leading up to the Iowa Caucus, which will be held Feb. 3, 2020.

Sitting down with JNS at his deli, which was renovated over a three-year period, Jacobson, who has lived in Des Moines for 28 years with his wife and now seven children, said that "because there is so much noise today, people are beginning to hear the calling of Torah – the calling that God is calling everyone here for a mission to fulfill."

"You're standing in a deli and you're talking to people. You're learning from people and you're giving people perspectives," he said. "You're giving a perspective of who we are as a people."

Jacobson mentioned his reverence for Kaufman, who, along with Finkelstein, once wrote a letter to the Arab-Muslim community. Jacobson didn't see the letter, but a few months afterward, a delegation from that community went to the deli to have a weekday lunch.

The delegation told Kaufman about the letter. He later expressed appreciation to Kaufman and Finkelstein, "even though we know where they stand with Israel … I just let the pastrami talk for itself."

Jacobson said that kitchen-table issues like health care dominate the political discussion in Iowa leading up to the caucus, but at the end of the day, "we just have to keep on succeeding in what God almighty lets us succeed with our families, our jobs, have more people come to the deli. I don't have any hope other than Hashem. I have God-care. Please give me another day I don't have to be in any level of sickness. So far, so good."

Campaign volunteers not only go to the deli, but to the Jacobsons for Shabbat meals. Even a few Palestinian volunteers from Sen. Elizabeth Warren's (D-Mass.) campaign had lunch at the deli three weeks ago.

Jacobson noted that always on the menu are hamantaschen, the signature treat on the Jewish holiday of Purim; latkes, traditionally served on Hanukkah; and pickles, which brings people "back home."

"People love coming here. They feel a sense of clarity where there's so much noise and clutter; they come to hear the calling," said the rabbi. "They come to hear how Jewish people stand on all these issues."

The deli went from contents in freezers at the Jacobsons' home to a store, thanks to the help of the community and former Gov. Terry Branstad, whose mother was Jewish.

On the day of the interview with JNS, a man reminded Jacobson that six years ago, he helped him get through a divorce. Jacobson didn't remember him, but made it a point to say that "he came back. Just had a sandwich to support the deli."

Jacobson has helped people across the board, whether it's girls who were abused by their fathers or a former successful businessman who has been jobless for two years. The rabbi has made some calls to help get the man hired, reassuring that someone out there will employ him.

"These callings come, you act on it," said Jacobson. "It's more than just spreading Judaism. It's spreading humanity, spreading morality, encouraging people to be responsible to the gift of life God wants them to have – not to throw it away. So the deli has become a lot more than just pastrami and corn beef and matzah-ball soup. This is the excuse why they come here."

Among traditional Jewish offerings, "The Maccabee" is the most popular item on the menu, said Jacobson. The specialty sandwich is one-third a pound of corned beef and roast beef.

Jacobson remarked that he's open to the 2020 presidential candidates visiting the deli.

The rabbi mentioned LGBTQ people who told him that if his deli displayed the rainbow flag, it would be welcoming to their community.

Jacobson recalled telling them, "I don't welcome Jews. I don't welcome blacks. I don't welcome LGBT. I welcome everyone as a human being."

Outside Des Moines

Outside Iowa's state capital is a Chabad in Iowa City, Bettendorf, Ames, and Postville.

The Postville one is run by Rabbi Aron Schimmel, married with 10 kids. He told JNS that the Jewish community there is about 50 families, most of whom are Orthodox. The Iowa Caucus is casually discussed, unlike in Des Moines.

"In our place, [we] don't talk about it so much," he said.

However, Postville is no exception to the political sphere, as it was the place where Sholom Rubashkin infamously ran a now-bankrupt kosher slaughterhouse and meat-packing plant, Agriprocessors, employing undocumented immigrants. He was criminally charged with fraud and sentenced in June 2010 to 27 years in prison. (The kosher plant was bought in a July 2009 auction and is now called Agri Star.)

In December 2017, US President Donald Trump commuted Rubashkin's sentence, which Schimmel called "a big miracle."

Today, said Schimmel, there's "a new era," as the years have passed since that episode.

About three hours away from Postville, Rabbi Linda Bertenthal leads Temple Emanuel, a Reform synagogue in Davenport with around 105 families, and is currently undergoing renovations on the inside.

Bertenthal, a registered Democrat, said most of her congregation, like most Reform ones, are progressive and care about issues such as immigration and the environment, where there is a "wide range of opinions."

In her sermons, she said she doesn't utter the word "president" or "Trump."

"I consider every issue that I see an ethical dimension to, which is basically everything as fair game for sermonizing," she said. "I talk about issues, never people or political roles or political parties, God forbid."

Bertenthal noted that when attending candidate events "you always see a lot of fellow Jews there."

Alarmingly, her community feels that anti-Semitism is on the rise. "It feels like a dangerous time to be Jewish, and everyone is incredibly security-conscious all the time wherever they go," she said. There are one or two off-duty officers protecting the synagogue during services.

Bertenthal said that the neighborhood around Temple Emanuel's sister synagogue, Congregation Beth Israel at the Tri City Jewish Center in Rock Island, Ill., has been "leafleted" with white-supremacist and anti-Semitic "literature."

"We feel it over here," she said, "plenty."

However, Bertenthal added that there's more love than hate in the community, including from non-Jews, who expressed support in the aftermath of the October 2017 shooting at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

The rabbi has interacted with Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) and Warren, and has accepted meetings with representatives of other candidates, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Pete Buttigieg, the Democratic mayor of South Bend, Indiana.

She and her husband sought to "convey how important it was to us for candidates for the presidency to really understand the issues in Israel and to understand them in a full historical perspective, and not to view it in some of the simplistic ways that many people view it. And how impossible it would be for us to support a candidate that didn't support Israel's right to exist."

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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"There are very legitimate Israeli security concerns," said the 37-year-old in response to a question from JNS following his speech at the annual Iowa State Fair on "The Des Moines Register Soapbox," where candidates for president and other offices give an allotted 20-minute speech. "That being said, I would have, in that situation, had this be part of a negotiated discussion. The really upsetting thing about what was done with the Golan Heights was that it was an intervention in Israeli domestic politics."

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"In other words, the president used US foreign policy to put a thumb on the scale for right-wing allies within Israeli domestic politics. This is totally the wrong basis for our policy. So we can talk about the future of any of the hot-button issues in the Middle East," continued Buttigieg. "The bottom line is when I am the president we will do it not based on US politics and not based on Israeli politics but based on what is best for the security of the Israeli-Palestinian [future]."

Regarding whether, if elected, he would undo the president's move, Buttigieg responded, "I'm not going to make any declarations now about the future of that status other than to say that on my watch it would not have come about as part of the intervention of Israeli [politics]."

The Republican Jewish Coalition immediately challenged the mayor for his response.

"Top tier 2020 Democrat contender apparently wants Syria to have the Golan Heights, supports a foreign policy strategy that denies reality," tweeted the organization.

However, Buttigieg did not say nor seemed to imply that Syria should have the Golan Heights, which many say is a geographic and strategic asset for the State of Israel.

Buttigieg has pledged, if elected, to keep the US Embassy in Israel in Jerusalem, where it was relocated from Tel Aviv in May 2018, but re-enter the United States into the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, from which the Trump administration withdrew, also in May 2018, reimposing sanctions lifted under it and enacting new financial penalties against the regime.

In June, along with criticizing the US withdrawal from the Iran deal, Buttigieg warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against fulfilling his campaign promise to annex parts of Judea and Samaria.

"If Prime Minister Netanyahu makes good on his threat to annex West Bank settlements, he should know that a President Buttigieg would take steps to ensure that American taxpayers won't help foot the bill," he declared.

While on the soapbox, Buttigieg called for gun-control measures, and also tackled immigration and the economy.

The Iowa Caucus will be held on Feb. 3, 2020.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

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The issue hits particularly close to home for Biden, whose son, Beau, died in 2015 at the age of 46, after suffering from brain cancer.

At a campaign event in Ottumwa, Iowa, on Tuesday, Biden expressed the difficulty one faces with a loss of a family member: "A lot of you understand what loss is and when loss occurs, you know that people come up to you and tell you 'I understand' if you lose a husband, a wife, a son, a daughter, a family member. They say, 'I know how you feel' when in reality they have no idea how I feel."

"That's why I've worked so hard in my career, that I promise you, if I'm elected president you're going to see the single most important thing that changes America, we're going to cure cancer," Biden declared.

While working in the Obama administration, Biden was responsible for the "Cancer Moonshot" initiative, which "accelerates cancer research aims to make more therapies available to more patients, while also improving our ability to prevent cancer and detect it at an early stage," according to the organization's website.

The post Realistic goals? Joe Biden vows to 'cure cancer' if elected president appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.