Orthodox Jews might love Rick Santorum for his social conservative values, that is always portrayed in the Orthodox community as traditional family and Torah values. The question is how committed is Santorum to those ‘Jewish’ values, given the amount of time he has focused on social issues in order to attract Evangelical and hardcore conservatives. And how this support may give the impression of Jewish voters embracing Jesus as their savior.
Prior to the Iowa caucuses, In an effort to reach out to Jewish voters in the Palmetto State, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum’s South Carolina team sent out a Hanukkah card. “Happy Hanukkah from S.C. Team Santorum,” reads the card, which New York Observer political reporter Hunter Walker, first reported about. There’s a menorah! Dreidels and a Star of David!
And… a four-line quote from John 8:12, from the New Testament, which reads: “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”
Here’s the part that follows the quoted bit.
The Pharisees challenged him, “Here you are, appearing as your own witness; your testimony is not valid.”
Jesus answered, “Even if I testify on my own behalf, my testimony is valid, for I know where I came from and where I am going. But you have no idea where I come from or where I am going. You judge by human standards; I pass judgment on no one. But if I do judge, my decisions are true, because I am not alone. I stand with the Father, who sent me. In your own Law it is written that the testimony of two witnesses is true. I am one who testifies for myself; my other witness is the Father, who sent me.”
Anti-Defamation League Abraham Foxman told The Jerusalem Post that Santorum’s remarks were “totally inappropriate. It’s crossing the line.”
“It says to Jews, to Muslims, to Buddhists, to non-believers, you’re not part of this country,” he added.
Santorum also told listeners of a Boston radio show, in January, that “we always need a Jesus guy” in the campaign.
Santorum continued, “Do you stand up and say, ‘God bless America?’ Do you mean it? Are you just saying it? The idea that we don’t need someone with a moral compass, is that what we’ve come to? Is that what the Republican party is? No, it isn’t.”
The candidate,reportedly repeated the conversation later in the day campaigning in New Hampshire, relating that he had said, “We always need a Jesus candidate.”