I'd mostly associate myself with Matt's discomfort over the explicit zionism (and hawkishness) projected from rabbinical pulpits these days. The last time I entered Bat Yahm, the synagogue I grew up in, was for a reunion of my confirmation class. Seemed innocent enough. But the point wasn't the pretzels, or the juice, or the connections, but an extended lecture on the Jenin Incursion, the lies of the American media, and the obvious fact that the Jews would be "perfectly in their rights to deport the entire Palestinian population" and proved their moral superiority daily by not doing so. After shouting back for awhile, I eventually stood up, turned heel, and strode out. It was the last time I set foot in that temple.
The "partisanization" of Judaism, however, doesn't strike me as a particularly unique phenomenon. I assume the complaints of Matt and myself are fairly close echoes of those voiced by liberal Christians whose congregations have become wings of the Republican Party. The difference, as my girlfriend pointed out, is that the average few miles in DC, or Kansas, or California, will contain a multitude of churches, while the religious "market" supports fewer Jewish options. So there isn't an obvious place for many Jews -- myself included -- to turn.
