Meet Cameron Kerry, the Jewish, pro-Israel brother of John Kerry [Hidden by MSM from leftist base]

Various ^ | July 4, 2004 | nwrep

[nwrep]

Cameron Kerry

As many of you know, one of the things John Kerry's leftist base is most uncomfortable about is his strong support (at least on paper) of Israel. In fact, his pro-Israel policy paper last week caused severe consternation among Kerry supporters.

There is a little secret that the media has kept from the people, in deference to the anti-Israel stance of the left wing of the Democratic party, and that is the existence of the Jewish brother of John Kerry, Cameron Kerry. Not only is he a converted Jew, he is a prominent lawyer for a major Boston law firm which represents many high profile Israeli business interests. Read below for a profile of Cameron Kerry from Forward magazine:

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Kerry Relies on Cam, His Jewish Brother
By E.J. Kessler
March 5, 2004

When Massachusetts Senator John Kerry learned last year that his paternal grandparents in 19th-century Austria had converted to Catholicism from Judaism, one of the first people he called was his younger brother, Cameron.

The younger Kerry was surprised.

In an interview at John Kerry's New York headquarters last Friday, Cameron Kerry told the Forward that his family had "an inkling" that they had a Jewish grandmother, but no "concrete" evidence. Furthermore, he said, his grandparents' conversion, which was discovered by the Boston Globe, struck him as "ironic." The younger Kerry, 53, had converted to Judaism from Catholicism in 1983, upon marrying a Jewish woman, Kathy Weinman.

Cameron Kerry, who lives in Boston, was in New York last weekend politicking for his brother in advance of the March 2 New York Democratic primary. One of the campaign's most public faces in the Jewish community, he spent the Sabbath at Manhattan synagogues and stayed in local homes. On Sunday, he and his brother met with some 40 Jewish communal leaders in Manhattan at a gathering that got glowing reviews in the next day's newspapers. The candidate impressed attendees with his knowledge of Middle Eastern affairs and his emotional grasp of the issues. He also got a chance to correct an earlier faux pas, in which he had suggested naming two figures who are unpopular with the Jewish community — former secretary of state James Baker and former president Carter — as possible envoys to the Middle East.

"It was Cam's doing to bring that together and make that happen," said Alan Solomont, a Jewish philanthropist and fund-raiser for Senator Kerry who attended the meeting. "He understood the importance of John getting in front of the community... of showing his incredible intellectual depth."

Cameron Kerry, who said his brother was "supportive" of his decision to convert, has given the senator some first-hand experience with Judaism. Kerry and his wife have raised their two daughters in the Reform tradition, with baby namings and bat mitzvahs. John Kerry attended those functions as a treasured uncle, and while he hasn't celebrated Jewish holidays such as Passover with the family, "he has been to Shabbat dinner," Cameron Kerry said. So, in a historical first, the probable Democratic presidential nominee not only possesses Jewish roots — and, it was discovered last week, relatives who died in Nazi death camps — but some Jewish family experiences.

In a campaign that heralds a "band of brothers," namely the fellow veterans who have flocked to the war hero's camp, it seems fitting that the candidate's biological brother would figure prominently. The brothers are close, so close in fact that the younger Kerry has served as one of his sibling's chief counselors and strategists on all of his campaigns, from his unsuccessful run for Congress in 1972 through some tough subsequent contests. His role as political strategist has turned Cameron Kerry into a story in his own right more than once.

In 1972, in what the family says was a "setup," he was arrested for having broken into a building that housed the campaign's phone lines. A caller had tipped him off to the threat that an opponent would cut the lines, but the police caught Cameron Kerry instead.

A recent New York Times profile examined Kerry's role in the axing of Jim Jordan, his brother's popular campaign manager, comparing him to the late Robert Kennedy, who gained a reputation for ruthlessness as John Kennedy's campaign manager in the 1960 presidential campaign.

James Segel, a Boston Democratic activist who has known Kerry for 30 years, laughed at the comparison.

"Cam is tough, but he doesn't give the impression of being ruthless," Segel said. "I would not compare him in style to the Bob Kennedy of the 1960 campaign. As confidant to the candidate, there's a comparison there. John Kennedy had 110% confidence in Bob, and John Kerry has 110% confidence in Cam."

Segel and others describe the younger Kerry as his brother's eyes and ears on the campaign, "kind of quiet" and "not obtrusive" but with "very good political judgment."

"He gives good, honest advice to his brother, and that's rare, because too often people tell the candidate what they want to hear," Segel said.

A more apt comparison than the Kennedys might be to another dynamic duo, Batman and Robin. The younger Kerry looks like a boyish version of his 60-year-old brother, who stands several inches taller and whose features are craggier. He speaks about Senator Kerry in terms Robin might have used for the caped crusader, too.

"There's nobody I want more by my side in a tough situation than my brother," Kerry said. "That's what his crewmates have seen, and that's what more and more and more people have seen in this country as this campaign has unfolded."

The Kerry campers and others consulted for this article all praised Cameron Kerry as a thoughtful, self-effacing, gentle man. He's even a hero to his rabbi. Rabbi Ronne Friedman of Temple Israel of Brookline, Mass., recounts how last year Kerry's family took the lead in the class project of his daughter's b'nei mitzvah class, to build a playground for an urban school in Roxbury. The family helped raise money, worked with the parents of the school and assembled dozens of volunteers for the construction, according to Friedman.

"He's present in the pew with regard to worship, and whenever time allows has been a student," Friedman said. "He's genuinely an intellect and has an interest in Judaism from an intellectual point of view."

Kathy Weinman Kerry is a member of the synagogue's board and its ritual committee.

Cameron Kerry's Jewish connections also extend to his business life, and have paid off for John Kerry. A telecommunications lawyer, Kerry works at a Boston-based firm, Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo, although he has taken a leave to work on the campaign. While Mintz Levin is now a diverse, 450-lawyer shop, it was once known as the "Lox et Veritas" firm — a play on the Yale motto "Lux et Veritas" — having been founded in 1933 by Jewish lawyers "who weren't entirely accepted at white-shoe firms," Kerry said. The firm, which built itself up as counselors to the Jewish entrepreneurs of Boston, even now has a big business in helping Israeli high-tech entrepreneurs gain access to American markets.

Kerry has made rain handsomely for his brother at Mintz Levin. Employees of the firm have emerged as the second-largest source of contributions to the candidate in this election cycle, providing a total $113,500 in contributions, according to the Web site of the Center for Responsive Politics.

The younger Kerry describes the campaign fund raising in the Jewish community as "very strong," thanks to the efforts of Solomont, national campaign finance chairman Louis Susman and Denver fund-raiser Ron Brownstein.

As a strategist, Cameron Kerry said, the decision of which he is most proud was "to shift gears from being a national campaign to focus on Iowa."

John Kerry's surprise win there started the momentum that has carried his candidacy forward to the point where it appeared to have locked up the Democratic nomination after wins in 9 of the 10 states that voted this week.

But Cameron Kerry may have another role: humanizing the John Kerry often pilloried by the press as stiff and aloof. Kerry said he doesn't recognize that figure.

"He's somebody with very intense personal relationships," he said of the senator. "You can see on this campaign, it's impressive the number of people who have intense loyalties going back a lot of years. It's a reflection of the deeply loyal relationships he has."

One relationship in particular.

[Fraulein]

There are two ways one becomes a Jew. By being born of a Jewish mother, or by conversion

Excuse my ignorance; I know very little about Judaism, but I do have just a simple but very honest question: If half of your genes come from your father, and half of your genes come from your mother, then why is it that only the mother's genes determine whether or not one is jewish, and not the fathers? I do not understand, at least scientifically, why one would not be just as jewish for having a jewish father and a catholic mother, as one would be if he had a jewish mother and a catholic father. As for the former, would one not be at least half-jewish? Can one not be half-jewish?

Again, excuse my ignorance.

[missyme]

I also have trouble with this concept, because I know so many inter-marraiges of Jewish people with I guess non-jewish people meaning I have a distant cousin her mother is Jewish father is not..She marries a Christian has a boy and he marries a Christian they have children and I guess her children are no longer Jewish even though there maternal grandmother is Jewish, I think Malakhi is saying you have to have Mother who is Jewish (gave birth to you) to consider yourself or call yourself Jewish...

[malakhi]

If half of your genes come from your father, and half of your genes come from your mother, then why is it that only the mother's genes determine whether or not one is jewish, and not the fathers? I do not understand, at least scientifically, why one would not be just as jewish for having a jewish father and a catholic mother, as one would be if he had a jewish mother and a catholic father.

Within Judaism, this is just how "Jewishness" is defined. It isn't based upon science or genetics, but rather upon religious belief.

Can one not be half-jewish?

From the standpoint of ethnicity, certainly. One can be half-Jewish just as one can be half-German or half-Italian. The difference is that being Jewish is more than just an ethnicity.

[Fraulein]

Thanks for your reply. So, essentially, one can be ethnically jewish but still not be a jew (non-jewish mother), and one could not be ethnically jewish but become a jew (conversion)?

[malakhi]

Yep, you've got it! :o)

[Fraulein]

Thanks. :)

[Just mythoughts]

"As I posted with Malakhi yesterday, the New Testament is not a Book written by Arabs or Buddhists it was written by the Jewish people, some might of rejected the writings but many did not. Look at the travels Paul, Barnabas and Peter made in spreading the GOSPELS...They FIRST went to the largest cities through-out the Midddle East (ANTIOCH) with Jewish populations. In fact after Jesus's resurrection the APOSTLES still did not have a clear idea how to speak with the Gentiles until the HOLY Spirit came upon them. "


First a history lesson. Israel was initially under the system of judges which is what our Heavenly Father set up. Then the children, because of the neighborhood saw other peoples with a king, so they demanded a king. ISamuel 8:5

The first king Saul, who was from the tribe Benjamin. I note that because each of these tribes were given blessings, a standard and duty.

King Saul was followed by King David from the tribe of Judah and his son King Solomon. Now it was during Solomon's reign, (a study would be interesting in what Solomon did that set in motion the rest of history) that the two houses were divided.

The Northern 10 tribes called Israel, sometimes Ephriam, because they were the largest tribe was separated, might call it a civil war. This Northern Kingdom was taken captive by the Assyrian King and have not and will not be rejoined until Christ returns. Matthew 10:5 "These twelve sent forth, and commanded them, saying, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not;

6. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

Follow the steps of the twelve, their travels, will give some interesting insight. Note this is prior to His death, because from that point forward Christ was accessible to allllll whom would.


The Southern Kingdom, Judah and Benjamin were taken captive, by the king of Babylon, Daniel was there, Jeremiah did not go to Babylon yet has much to say about Babylon. Would be a great study in the travels of Jeremiah and who he took with him.

Ezra and Nehemiah describes the events of returning to Jerusalem and rebuilding of the temple. Gives much insight as to who was brought to Jerusalem and who was in Jerusalem during Christ's time.

Now Paul formerly called Saul was interestingly from the tribe of Benjamin, and he wrote most of the New Testament and he was brought up under a Hebrew scholar and he knew the OLD as well as anyone, except Christ during this timeframe.



"The great divide with the early Jewish Christians and the bringing of the Gentiles into the church was that many JEWS still thought it was necessary for the Gentile Christians to adhere to the law of Moses, this was long before the Greeks and Romans put there spin on the Church."


The Law of Moses is still very much in effect to this day, Christ ended the requirement of "blood" sacrifices for sins. There is a big difference in the LAW, Ordinances and Statutes. But you will have to go back to where these are penned to learn the differences.

[kabar]

Politically, this has to be a plus for JFKerry. He has a Jewish brother who will be campaigning hard in Florida, NYC, and LA. The anti-Israel portion of the DEM base has no place to go. Maybe it will cause some Arab-Americans to rethink their support of Kerry, especially in places like Michigan. In any event, Kerry will garner most of the Jewish vote, as the Dems usually do.

[missyme]

Thanks for the post! My understanding of the law is of course the Ten Commandments were required of not only JEWS but all people for all time, but it had to do more with circumcision and dietary practices. I also beleive that the only sect of Judaism that adheres to the Ancient Biblical law and practices of Judaism are Orthodox.

Wasn't Ancient Judea Israel only Orthodox Jews that's my understanding of what forms of Judaism the Apostles and even Jesus Christ himself were-Orthodox Jews?

[Bella_Bru]

If half of your genes come from your father, and half of your genes come from your mother, then why is it that only the mother's genes determine whether or not one is jewish, and not the fathers?

My rabbi explained it that you always know who the mother of a child is. The father could be tricky though.

[x]

An obsessive compulsive control freak like Kerry knew perfectly well that he was Jewish for many, many years. Kerry chose to hide this fact so that: 1) He would not upset his power base, the virulently anti-Israeli Left in America, and 2) He could continue to pretend he was Irish to get re-elected by the simple minded Massachussetts lemming voters.

2) is quite true. Kerry wouldn't have gotten elected if not for the Irish connection. His early opponents portrayed him (quite accurately) as a distant and aloof WASP and only Kerry's Irish name saved him.

1) is much less likely though. How much support has Kerry gotten from the "virulently anti-Israeli Left in America?" Really, how much of a force are they in the Democratic Party? What real evidence do you have? When Wesley Clark and Hillary Clinton "discover" Jewish connections to advance their careers and Democratic candidates routinely pledge themselves to support Israel, how seriously can anyone take that contention?

Some Likud loyalists would claim that anyone who isn't 100% behind Sharon is "anti-Israeli," but given that many Israelis and American Zionists fall into that category themselves, we needn't make that any sort of orthodoxy or paint ourselves into a corner.

[FormerACLUmember]

How much support has Kerry gotten from the "virulently anti-Israeli Left in America?" Really, how much of a force are they in the Democratic Party?

I think we are in a transition phase in the US. The radical left is becoming much more anti-Jewish, minute by minute in my observation.

Look at the campuses. Do you think a Likud speaker would be given the same opportunity to speak as a PLP Palestinean propagandist?

The actions of the US in defending itself against terror are now ferociously attacked by the Michael Moore wing of the democrat party, as we speak. How do suppose these same characters feel about Israel defending itself?

[Just mythoughts]

"My understanding of the law is of course the Ten Commandments were required of not only JEWS but all people for all time, but it had to do more with circumcision and dietary practices. I also beleive that the only sect of Judaism that adheres to the Ancient Biblical law and practices of Judaism are Orthodox."


The LAW if the Ten Commandments, no change except that "Christ" became the sabbath in that we are to abide in him every day.

I do not know about "sect of Judaism" or practices of Judsiam being Orthodox".

Rather than study different "sects", traditions, churches, I have spent time in seeking and understanding what is Written. Thus having the story flow have what Paul calls a glimpse, because no man can possibly understand it all.

The history as Written is very important cause it is a "story" starting with Adam his generations and those that his generations come into contact with. Paul tells us in ICorinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples (examples): and they are written for our admonition, (warning) upon whom the ends of the world are come.

Paul was talking about the ensamples written in what is commonly call the OLD, being the examples to learn the warning that would happen again which the ends of the "age" are come.

"Wasn't Ancient Judea Israel only Orthodox Jews that's my understanding of what forms of Judaism the Apostles and even Jesus Christ himself were-Orthodox Jews?


Israel, then Israel and Judea constantly, (just like when Moses was being given the Ten Commandments, built that golden calf) disobeyed the Ten Commandments, reason why the Heavenly Father divorced Israel, and sent her into captivity.

Actually the religious leaders in Christ's time were constantly trying to trip him up. Remember what is written when he cleansed the temple, things were very much going wrong inside that temple.

[Just mythoughts]

Sorry The Law if = is.....

sorry about the typos got toooo many interruptions.

[missyme]

Are you talking about the women you know? or women in general?:)

[Bella_Bru]

That was what my rabbi said during one Talmud study class. He's a realist and knows that even in the past, the majority of the people were not 'pure as the driven snow'. Instead, the plow had already been through.

[missyme]

Well I agree with your Rabbi and the last time I saw anything that was pure as snow was the "snow" which I don't see very often living in So Calif.

But I get his meaning....
One day all our answers will be revealed, but in the meantime we can agree to dis-agree at times, anyways what fun would it be if the whole world thought like you or me?

[SJackson]

See, I know you have a hard time accepting this, but, Jews get to decide who is Jewish and who is not. Not Christians. They don't get to decide jack shit that has to do with Jewish Law.
Sweetie, Jews decide who is Jewish. End of story. If your mama wasn't Jewish, and you did not halachically convert, then you ain't Jewish, no matter how much you want to call yourself a "Jew for Jesus".

You wouldn't think that's such a hard concept to understand, would you? :>)

[SJackson]

He's a realist and knows that even in the past, the majority of the people were not 'pure as the driven snow'. Instead, the plow had already been through.

Not to mention a few millenia of involuntary "ravishings".

[Bella_Bru]

I can call myself, "Grand Wamba Mama 4th Declension of the Great and Honorary President Poobah" all I want. It doesn't mean that I don't need therapy. ;-)