I wanted to say something about others reactions and list-serves. I belong to a Conservative synagogue in suburban Phila. where I was in the distinct minority since before we went into Iraq. The atmosphere on our list-serve was getting pretty bleak but every now and then someone would come along and try to bring us back to our senses -- after all we were all believers in tolerance and openness, etc. etc.
This afternoon I posted the following:
"Well a miracle occurred. Not in the sense that many here might assume, that the candidate that I supported won the election. Why that happened I leave to the pundits, professional and amateur.

No the miracle that I refer to was the subject of a conversation between my friend IW and myself a few days ago. IW and I are on opposite ends of the political aisle but have somehow managed not to let that get in the way of a friendship. When we talked she said (with a sigh) something to the effect of “And you know, it’s not going to be over on Tuesday.” She meant as you probably guessed, that the lawsuits and the vituperation, the accusations, the whole schmeer, would drag us forward through the next few months in a heightened climate of division.

Instead, Sen. Kerry showed America, and this shul, what it is to be a mensch. With grace and generosity, he spoke of a fight well-fought, the dedication of his supporters and most importantly, a vision to work together. I honestly say that he showed me that there was far more to him than I was perhaps willing to admit and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for seeing beyond partisanship to a vision of a UNITED States of America.

Bin Laden told us on Friday what some have forgotten, that we all, Democrat, Republican, Jew, Christian and yes, Moslem, are targets for him and his ilk. Sen. Kerry told us on Wednesday another thing that some have forgotten, that we are all blessed to be Americans and that we must all come together to find a way to face our foes and better our nation and our world.

May we all be blessed with a refuah shlemah (full and complete healing) soon"

I thought I was reaching out in the best interests of our country and in accordance with the best of our tradition. Boy, was I in for a surprise! While 1 or 2 congreganst wrote back thanking me for what I sent, the majority so far sound like the following:

"Well, I certainly don't want to undermine the urge towards reconciliation that seems to be prevalent on the listserve, but I'm with B. This tiger is not going to change his stripes. Actions speak louder than words, and we have had four years of action by which to get to know W...history will indeed judge this election as a turning point, after which the policies of the first four years, policies that might have been reversed with a regime change, instead became so entrenched that the international isolation and internal decline of the United States gained irreversable momentum. Even during the Nixon years, I never felt so unrepresented by and alienated from our national government as I do today."

Or this one:
"George Bush provides no common good with which to join. And those who -- with full knowledge of all the negative consequences -- supported him may be my fellow citizens, but they are not fellow travelers with a similar goal in mind for this country (if they even see this country as their primary one of interest). All of us may still need to live together -- and reaching across the aisle in those areas we agree can be easy if the bullying of the Republicans can be displaced by real leadership qualities that encourage engagement -- but I (and I hope others who concur) will not make co-existence comfortable in those areas where this is good reason for disagreement. I am not an enabler."
Or this one:
"I want to echo the feelings expressed by BH, BB, and JC. I find myself in a state of despair after this election, and I do not know where to turn or what to do except to pray and to reach out to others who share my beliefs. I am quite skeptical that there can be a coming together after this election. It is an expression of two world views--two different ways of looking at the world and our role in it. If, after the 2000 election, this president had governed as a "compassionate conservative"--whatever that means, I might be better able to believe that he is a leader who has all of our interests at heart. The fact that he chose to govern to his base and to use fear and social issues as a divisive tool and as a method to enhance his power base means that those of us "liberals" who came of age in the 60's and beyond have been marginalized and disenfranchised. Yes, I believe that for the sake of our community, there has to be some civil dialogue, but what I most need now is a way to reach out to my fellow congregants to support each other in these difficult times and to find a way to begin to realize our own vision of moral values in this country. Please respond to me privately if you have thoughts about how we might begin to do this. This, too, is not meant as a joke."

Maybe feelings right now are too raw and what I did was premature but I cannot believe this completely Manichaean view of the world and of supporters of W. It's unlikely that i can stay on in a shul that feels such a need to hold on to rage, especially when that rage is so misdirected. This is the shul that Bar and Bat Miztvahed my kids, where I used to go and study Torah on Shabbat mornings with people who were mi friends.

I'm wondering if others have had similar experiences. God help us in our fight against the like of bin Laden when our own are so filled with hate against this one man.